Two Canadian produce consumption studies reveal this

While Montreal and Quebecers — and produce professionals across North America — battle mounting challenges, two Canadian consumption studies discovered some sunny findings.

More than 29% of Canadians buy enough produce to match the amount recommended by Canada’s new food guide, according to a report released Sept. 2 from Dalhousie University’s Agri-Food Analytics Lab, co-authored by Vasantha Rupasinghe.

“Fruits and vegetables are synonymous with healthy eating,” Quebec Produce Marketing Association said about the survey in its Sept. 2 newsletter to members. “The survey also included questions related to bioactives, cancer risks and microbiome. These results were interesting.”

Results included:

• 21.4% of Canadians will think about bioactive properties when purchasing a fruit or a vegetable;
• 42.6% of Canadians think about cancer risks when purchasing produce, and 47.6% eat produce to reduce cancer risks;
• 66% of Canadians see fruits and vegetables as superfoods;
• 66.8% of Canadians eat produce to lose weight, and 71.3% eat fruits and vegetables for their microbiome and gut health; and
• 64.9% of Canadians will only buy fresh produce, and 18.7% prefer frozen produce.

Quebec ties for second place with Novia Scotia of Canada’s 10 provinces with 30.7% of consumers only buying locally grown produce. Also at 30.7%, Montreal ranks third for the percentage of consumers eating the recommended produce amount every day.

Consumers also use different information sources to influence their produce choices. The No. 1 source for Canadians are food and cooking websites at 39%. Nutritionists are at 25.3%, followed by Canada’s Food Guide at 20.8%.

“Typically, celebrities and websites are quite popular for Canadians looking for information, but with fruits and vegetables, authoritative sources like nutritionists and our food guide appear to be more popular,” Sylvain Charlebois, lab director, said in the report.

Statistics Canada released a report Sept. 8, on fruit and vegetable consumption five times or more per day, by age group. These results were a little different.

Overall, more than a quarter, or 25.4%, of Canadians 12 and older eat five or more servings of fruit and vegetables a day.

At the top of the heap, 29% of those 65 and older report eating this much produce daily. At the bottom are people 18-34, at 22.4%.

Young people 12-17 report eating more than young adults. The second-highest produce-eating group is those 35-49.