Jan 2007
Obesity is the big issue for fresh
produce trade
Mike Knowles
Obesity is definitely a concern here at Eurofruit Magazine. As you may have noticed, our publication has put on quite a bit of weight this month – so much so, in fact, that I’m going to have to do some training in the New Year so I can carry the heavy tome around at Fruit Logistica 2007 in February.
As our front cover suggests, this well-stocked publication contains everything you could possibly need for getting the most out of the world’s leading annual fresh produce trade fair. We’ve produced our biggest ever Fruit Logistica preview (p30-73), spanning over 40 pages and highlighting many of the most interesting exhibitors due to take part in the event. We’ve got interviews with some of the biggest companies in the business, including the heads of Fyffes and the newly demerged Total Produce, as well as industry leaders from GF Group, The Greenery, Cobana Fruchtring, Anecoop, Canavese and Zespri. And there’s plenty more, including major features on South African grapes and Moroccan citrus, plus our annual Trade NZ supplement. The magazine you’re holding may make your arms ache, but there is certainly nothing overblown about its content.
Even if this magazine is having trouble staying slim, the fresh produce sector itself is making some good progress in the bid to counteract obesity. Projects designed to increase consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables through generic promotions are starting to have an effect; alongside a plethora of national schemes based on the 5-a-Day idea, there have been some notably inventive campaigns such as the Mr Fruitness and Food Dude programmes. The latter has done particularly well and was recently presented with a WHO award for fighting obesity (see p11) by EU Health and Consumer Protection Minister Markos Kyprianou.
But it’s not all good news. The fresh produce trade is competing with some giants of the food industry that have deep pockets and large, committed PR departments. In November, Mr Kyprianou praised groups including McDonald’s, Unilever and Kraft for their recent work to address the obesity problem. The EU needs to give its backing to fruit and vegetable consumption schemes as well, but unless this fragmented sector comes together and starts backing more generic promotions, there’s fat chance of it keeping up.
Obesity is definitely a concern here at Eurofruit Magazine. As you may have noticed, our publication has put on quite a bit of weight this month – so much so, in fact, that I’m going to have to do some training in the New Year so I can carry the heavy tome around at Fruit Logistica 2007 in February.
As our front cover suggests, this well-stocked publication contains everything you could possibly need for getting the most out of the world’s leading annual fresh produce trade fair. We’ve produced our biggest ever Fruit Logistica preview (p30-73), spanning over 40 pages and highlighting many of the most interesting exhibitors due to take part in the event. We’ve got interviews with some of the biggest companies in the business, including the heads of Fyffes and the newly demerged Total Produce, as well as industry leaders from GF Group, The Greenery, Cobana Fruchtring, Anecoop, Canavese and Zespri. And there’s plenty more, including major features on South African grapes and Moroccan citrus, plus our annual Trade NZ supplement. The magazine you’re holding may make your arms ache, but there is certainly nothing overblown about its content.
Even if this magazine is having trouble staying slim, the fresh produce sector itself is making some good progress in the bid to counteract obesity. Projects designed to increase consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables through generic promotions are starting to have an effect; alongside a plethora of national schemes based on the 5-a-Day idea, there have been some notably inventive campaigns such as the Mr Fruitness and Food Dude programmes. The latter has done particularly well and was recently presented with a WHO award for fighting obesity (see p11) by EU Health and Consumer Protection Minister Markos Kyprianou.
But it’s not all good news. The fresh produce trade is competing with some giants of the food industry that have deep pockets and large, committed PR departments. In November, Mr Kyprianou praised groups including McDonald’s, Unilever and Kraft for their recent work to address the obesity problem. The EU needs to give its backing to fruit and vegetable consumption schemes as well, but unless this fragmented sector comes together and starts backing more generic promotions, there’s fat chance of it keeping up.
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Making mileage out of food
Chris White
With the single exception of the Kingdom of Thailand, one doesn’t usually turn to royalty for advice on the big issues. However, the future king of England could be about to change all that.
Never shy of an opinion on the absurdity of much modern architecture or the value of complementary medicine, HRH Prince Charles now wants his subjects to recognise that the food they buy may contribute to global warming.
According to newspaper reports, the Prince of Wales is keen that products marketed under his Duchy Originals brand carry information about the greenhouse gases emitted in their manufacture.
“Charles hopes Duchy customers will be able to use the detailed information on his products’ labels to make ‘green’ choices in the supermarket, which in turn will encourage other food companies to do likewise,” reports The Sunday Times newspaper.
Duchy Originals is a multi-million-euro food business set up by Prince Charles in 1990 (www.duchyoriginals.com) to focus on supplying high-quality organic and premium products. Annual profits of some £1m are donated to his charities.
Although fresh fruits and vegetables are not yet part of the extensive product range, the odds are shortening fast as to when they will do. Let’s not forget, the heir to the British throne is, among many other things, a keen horticulturalist.
Prince Charles was due to outline his plans on food miles labellling to a meeting at St James’ Palace in central London in mid-December, just before this magazine went to press.
Already well in advance the press was speculating busily just how Prince Charles’ labelling scheme might work. Would it look at the weight of gas? Or would it focus on the percentage of a daily “personal carbon allowance”, something that Tony Blair’s government is also looking at, to help people make their lifestyles more “eco-friendly”.
As reported in these pages in recent months, food miles is becoming a big issue in the UK. It also features strongly in the environmental debate across Western Europe, where governments are keen to show their green credentials.
At the same time, shoppers are also catching onto the idea. Europe’s warmest autumn in years will convince many that global warming is an issue that needs to be tackled right away.
And in an effort to do something, shoppers would be forgiven for paying much more attention to what they put into their trolleys on their weekly trip to the local supermarket.
However, as New Zealand agriculture minister Jim Anderton points out in this month’s Trade New Zealand supplement (see p18), the issues around food miles are more complicated than the average shopper might think.
“A standard British shopping trip of 6.4 kilometres in a large family car to collect 20kg of food uses 25.6 megajoules of energy, the same amount of energy as is used to transport the food over 8,500 kilometres by sea,” says Mr Anderton.
Nevertheless, shoppers are expert at making ill-informed choices every day, not least because so much of shopping is driven by psychological need. We’d be fools if we kid ourselves that a label telling shoppers the distance a food has travelled will not make them think twice before buying it. After all, it helped Fairtrade to grow and is driving demand for organics as well.
The international fresh fruit and vegetable business should brace itself for the fallout from the debate on food miles. It’s almost too late already. And without delay it must rehearse the arguments that need to be made to defend this business, not simply for airfreighted produce but also for the global sourcing of fresh fruits and vegetables in general.
With the single exception of the Kingdom of Thailand, one doesn’t usually turn to royalty for advice on the big issues. However, the future king of England could be about to change all that.
Never shy of an opinion on the absurdity of much modern architecture or the value of complementary medicine, HRH Prince Charles now wants his subjects to recognise that the food they buy may contribute to global warming.
According to newspaper reports, the Prince of Wales is keen that products marketed under his Duchy Originals brand carry information about the greenhouse gases emitted in their manufacture.
“Charles hopes Duchy customers will be able to use the detailed information on his products’ labels to make ‘green’ choices in the supermarket, which in turn will encourage other food companies to do likewise,” reports The Sunday Times newspaper.
Duchy Originals is a multi-million-euro food business set up by Prince Charles in 1990 (www.duchyoriginals.com) to focus on supplying high-quality organic and premium products. Annual profits of some £1m are donated to his charities.
Although fresh fruits and vegetables are not yet part of the extensive product range, the odds are shortening fast as to when they will do. Let’s not forget, the heir to the British throne is, among many other things, a keen horticulturalist.
Prince Charles was due to outline his plans on food miles labellling to a meeting at St James’ Palace in central London in mid-December, just before this magazine went to press.
Already well in advance the press was speculating busily just how Prince Charles’ labelling scheme might work. Would it look at the weight of gas? Or would it focus on the percentage of a daily “personal carbon allowance”, something that Tony Blair’s government is also looking at, to help people make their lifestyles more “eco-friendly”.
As reported in these pages in recent months, food miles is becoming a big issue in the UK. It also features strongly in the environmental debate across Western Europe, where governments are keen to show their green credentials.
At the same time, shoppers are also catching onto the idea. Europe’s warmest autumn in years will convince many that global warming is an issue that needs to be tackled right away.
And in an effort to do something, shoppers would be forgiven for paying much more attention to what they put into their trolleys on their weekly trip to the local supermarket.
However, as New Zealand agriculture minister Jim Anderton points out in this month’s Trade New Zealand supplement (see p18), the issues around food miles are more complicated than the average shopper might think.
“A standard British shopping trip of 6.4 kilometres in a large family car to collect 20kg of food uses 25.6 megajoules of energy, the same amount of energy as is used to transport the food over 8,500 kilometres by sea,” says Mr Anderton.
Nevertheless, shoppers are expert at making ill-informed choices every day, not least because so much of shopping is driven by psychological need. We’d be fools if we kid ourselves that a label telling shoppers the distance a food has travelled will not make them think twice before buying it. After all, it helped Fairtrade to grow and is driving demand for organics as well.
The international fresh fruit and vegetable business should brace itself for the fallout from the debate on food miles. It’s almost too late already. And without delay it must rehearse the arguments that need to be made to defend this business, not simply for airfreighted produce but also for the global sourcing of fresh fruits and vegetables in general.
Forget staples, it's all about
superfruits
Laura Gould
Is it a banana? Is it an apple? No, it’s a superfruit! Forget your staple greengrocer commodities; nowadays produce consumption is all about a new breed of superfruits, and if you’re not getting your regular intake of blueberries, cranberries or pomegranates, you’re just not cutting it with today’s die-hard foodies.
New Zealand horticultural development group HortResearch has coined the phrase ‘superfruits’ to refer to any novelty product, rich in anti-oxidants and health benefits, that is being heavily promoted at consumer level (see p123 for more information).
The latest suspects in this line-up of trendy fruits include blueberries, cranberries and pomegranates, with all three enjoying booming global sales as consumers jump on to the anti-oxidant bandwagon.
But here in the UK, we are being told that, great news as it is that these superfruits are so good for us, nothing beats the good old British cup of tea in terms of high anti-oxidant levels.
According to a series of posters splashed all over the London Underground for the past couple of months, just four cups a day of the ubiquitous British beverage are as good as a punnet of blueberries or pomegranates at combatting the evil toxins like booze and nicotine which roam around our bodies.
Which is just as well for the Eurofruit staff. Much as we all enjoy our fruit (honestly!), after a long hard day writing about you lot, nothing quite hits the spot like a good ol’ cuppa.
Is it a banana? Is it an apple? No, it’s a superfruit! Forget your staple greengrocer commodities; nowadays produce consumption is all about a new breed of superfruits, and if you’re not getting your regular intake of blueberries, cranberries or pomegranates, you’re just not cutting it with today’s die-hard foodies.
New Zealand horticultural development group HortResearch has coined the phrase ‘superfruits’ to refer to any novelty product, rich in anti-oxidants and health benefits, that is being heavily promoted at consumer level (see p123 for more information).
The latest suspects in this line-up of trendy fruits include blueberries, cranberries and pomegranates, with all three enjoying booming global sales as consumers jump on to the anti-oxidant bandwagon.
But here in the UK, we are being told that, great news as it is that these superfruits are so good for us, nothing beats the good old British cup of tea in terms of high anti-oxidant levels.
According to a series of posters splashed all over the London Underground for the past couple of months, just four cups a day of the ubiquitous British beverage are as good as a punnet of blueberries or pomegranates at combatting the evil toxins like booze and nicotine which roam around our bodies.
Which is just as well for the Eurofruit staff. Much as we all enjoy our fruit (honestly!), after a long hard day writing about you lot, nothing quite hits the spot like a good ol’ cuppa.