For several years, the Produce for Better Health Foundation has been doing consumer research to gain greater insights on fruit and vegetable consumption. This year’s edition, Primary Shoppers/Moms with Kids 10 & Under Study Report, looked at moms with kids under 10, and it looked at “primary shoppers” who fell outside that “mom with young kids” demographic. (Full disclosure: PMA helped sponsor this research.)

As in prior studies, PBH looked at motivators, barriers, and needs related to fruit and vegetable consumption. Cost-saving tips, recipes, and information on storage, cooking, seasonality and serving are important to both moms and primary shoppers. And they are looking at cost, freshness and taste as they shop. They still perceive cost as an issue, so we all have to continue to get the message out that fruits and vegetables are not expensive.

The study also examines where consumers get their information, perceived benefits of eating fruits and vegetables, effective communications vehicles, and more. The report also discusses consumer responses to and uses for various forms of fruits and vegetables (fresh, frozen, canned, dried, 100 percent juice). In the report, you’ll see how often these moms and primary shoppers buy fruits and vegetables, how much they throw out, where they buy, and purchasing trends.

We can’t cover the whole report in this Field to Fork blog post, but here are some tidbits from the research to whet your appetite:

• The likelihood to include fruits and vegetables in snacks remains high, though there appears to be slight erosion in support from spouses when it comes to the importance of including fruits and vegetables in meals and snacks. Interestingly enough, the feeling of responsibility continues to be strong with respect to promoting and enforcing the consumption of fruits and vegetables among family members.
• More moms believe it’s easy to get their families to eat fruits and vegetables when dining out, but younger primary shoppers believe there is not a good range of fruits and vegetables available in restaurants.
• More moms associate the More Matters logo with healthiness and nutrition; in general, most primary shoppers became aware of Fruits & Veggies – More Matters through a supermarket display (which speaks to the branding support industry has provided).

As you look through the report, let us know what resonates with you in our Increasing Consumption Community on PMA Xchange.

Tags: Consumption, Economy

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 3rd, 2012 at 10:00 am and is filed under Consumption and Nutrition, Economy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.