The benefits of eating five portions of fruit and veg are widely reported in the UK, but as a large number of people are still not achieving this, Ripe 4 Offices has joined the drive to help encourage healthier eating.

Ripe 4 Offices is a new fruit delivery service for businesses, which encourages workplaces to support the 5 A DAY campaign by consuming more fruit and veg.

A recent International Labour Organisation report placed the UK at the top of the list of wealthy nations who work excessive hours, so with employees now spending longer periods of time behind their desks, we believe that the responsibility is with employers to help their staff meet their recommended fruit and veg intake. The 5 A DAY Just Eat More (fruit and veg) message is so well placed to influence the UK’s eating habits, and so relevant to the purpose of our company, that it felt natural for us to link up with the 5 A DAY programme by carrying the logo.

Rather than delivering just standard everyday fruit, however, we believe that to succeed in encouraging offices to provide fruit for their employees, we must make eating healthy food interesting and exciting. Ripe 4 Offices therefore encourages all of its customers to try our more exotic selections. For example, at the moment, offices can order dragonfruit from Vietnam, pitahayas from Colombia, and mangosteen from Thailand.

By generating more interest in different types of fruit, we believe that people will be more likely to reach their daily fruit requirement and achieve their 5 A DAY. Ripe 4 Offices also hopes that people will be persuaded to investigate different food types, and develop a personal knowledge of food nutrition.

To help people expand our customers’ nutritional knowledge, we plan to produce the Ripe Fruit Guide, which will provide details and information on a wide variety of fruits, explaining their nutritional content and health benefits.

Ripe 4 Offices looks forward to continuing its work with the 5 A DAY campaign and hopes to help generate greater awareness of the health benefits of eating fruit and veg in the UK.

For further information, please see www.ripe4offices.co.uk