The Path to Increasing Global Fruit and Vegetable Consumption

When the newly formed International Fresh Produce Association (IFPA) launched in 2022, there was one thing every member, every volunteer, every staffer could agree on: how can we as an industry grow consumption? But that consensus gave way to questions such as:

• What exactly do we mean by “consumption” and are the challenges and  opportunities the same?
• Are the things that keep the world’s malnourished from eating more fresh fruits and vegetables the same things that keep the world’s most over-fed populations from doing the same?

Those and many other questions prompted IFPA to create the Global Consumption Action Committee (GCAC). Its mission: Identify the forces necessary to increase fruit and vegetable consumption around the world.

Getting the world to consume 400g of fresh fruits and vegetables per day – call it “The 400 Gram Challenge” – is what scientists call a “multifactorial problem,” one for which there are many factors at play at the same time, all of which must be addressed in order for the desired change to occur.

The committee undertook three tasks:

1. Map the issues and challenges affecting consumption by industry or consumer.
2. Articulate critical success factors.
3. Develop sample roles and opportunities for IFPA, member companies, and individuals and map them to the critical success factors.

This robust document will be the bedrock for future IFPA committees and individual member organizations to take action to move consumption.