PBH urges: Make fruit and vegetable consumption a national priority

If the Produce for Better Health Foundation has its way, every produce industry stakeholder in the nation will head to Washington, D.C., next year to lead the change on fruit and vegetable consumption in America.

At the organization’s Consumer Connection Conference, April 18-20 at the Omni Resort and Spa at Montelucia in Scottsdale, Ariz., PBH President and CEO Wendy Reinhardt Kapsak offered a “Roadmap for Driving Fruit and Vegetable Consumption in America.” The session charted PBH’s recent progress, current projects and plans for the future.

PHB's Have a Plant campaign really changed the discussion around fruit and vegetables, said Kapsak. “We now have more than 300 ambassadors — advocates spanning retail, culinary and foodservice, as well as food, nutrition and agriculture to spread the fruit and veggie love.”

The organization also reimagined National Fruits and Veggies Month with “compelling consumer-centric communications” and “took the PBH mission and the Have a Plant movement to the masses,” she added.

PBH doesn’t miss an opportunity to get its message out there. #HaveaPlant boasts 3 billion social and traditional media impressions, FruitsAndVeggies.org has 10 million page views and National Fruit and Veggies Month has logged more than 100 million social media impressions.

Kapsak further detailed PBH’s three pillars or “roadmap” to increased consumption. Those pillars include consumption research and behavioral insights, forging a national consumption coalition, and creating a Consumption Summit 2023 national action plan.

Recent PBH research such as PBH State of the Plate: America’s Fruit & Vegetable Trends Research, 2021, and PBH Fruit & Vegetable Consumption Behaviors Survey, 2022, have helped inform the organization’s efforts to boost consumption by understanding why consumers say they want to eat more produce yet continue to fall short of daily recommendations.

The key to moving the needle on consumption, said Kapsak, is to make eating fruits and vegetables as “automatic” as brushing one’s teeth, while at the same time, inspiring them to “feel emotionally connected” to fruits and vegetables.

PBH was also part of a national consumption coalition that provided analysis and ideas for bridging the gap in the disparity between federal spending and "America’s consumption crisis," as well as a 2022 multisector report on fruit and vegetable consumption efforts in America, said Kapsak.

The organization’s third strategic initiative is a national action plan for convening a 2023 National Fruit and Vegetable Consumption Summit in Washington, D.C. “We need to elevate fruit and vegetable consumption as a national priority,” said Kapsak.

The PBH president and CEO also touched on the impact of the pandemic as it relates to nutrition.

“We are at a crossroads. People are resilient but may also be fragile,” said Kapsak, who added that she’s “not sure we’ve had a chance to process [the pandemic]."

I feel like something has to change,” she continued, pointing to the impact of life post-pandemic and rising food inflation.

“Consumers are going to need help making important choices. If we don’t keep consumers at the head of the table, we will lose them,” said Kapsak, reemphasizing the need for the industry to help improve consumers' lives with fruits and vegetables, as well as make it easier for the consumer to find, eat, plan for and buy produce.