A view from the outside

Returning to the Fresh Produce Journal where I began my first job as a staff journalist almost 10 years’ ago has been both familiar and slightly disorientating. 

I’ve spent the last few years covering food and farming from a consumer perspective, and returning to write about business issues feels a bit like stepping back through a mirror looking at the other side.

When I first started, I remember being amazed at the global supply chain of fresh produce, which is almost completely hidden from view from the average consumer, aside from a small sticky country of origin label.

It goes both ways though, as despite generic research that seems to have identified convenience and snacking as the top trends every year for the last ten years, it doesn’t feel as though what consumers really care about is on the radar of those on the inside of the sector.

In the intervening years after leaving FPJ, I set up and edited Wicked Leeks, a magazine on sustainable food and ethical business, published by organic veg box company Riverford. It built on the long-running routine by founder Guy Singh-Watson to send out a weekly newsletter, in which he talks about anything from politics to planting conditions. And I quickly saw first-hand how readers, and customers, were desperate for genuine information about how food is grown, the issues that affect it and, even, the mistakes that are made. An easy tactic, and one that is certainly easier for someone selling direct to customers, but I remain convinced there is a huge gap for stories or marketing that simply gives a behind the scenes glimpse of what it takes to produce and sell food.

Working on BBC Radio 4’s The Food Programme was another opportunity to cover stories of supply chains, policies, business and economics, using food as a lens everyone can relate to. I worked on programmes ranging from cutting edge research on how bitter flavours, found in things like brassicas, are incredibly effective at reducing inflammation that causes chronic disease like Type 2 diabetes.

A spike in Hong Kong immigration to the UK since 2020 led to a story about demand for specific Asian vegetables in pockets of migrants in Manchester and south London. A visit to Finland saw us record at the factory of a new cultivated protein, made by precision fermenting and then cultivating a bacteria into a protein-rich yellow powder. Delicious as an egg replacer in fancy pasta or ice cream? Yes. Expensive? Massively.

The need to replace animal proteins with plant alternatives is only getting stronger, the latest Climate Change Committee carbon budget has recommended a 35 per cent reduction in meat consumption by 2050, and has specifically noted that government intervention and policies will be required to get there. It feels like the produce industry should see at least some of the benefits of that approach.

But before the consumer perspective fully wears off, here are a few other ‘reflections from the other side’:

Health is king

When we looked back at the top 10 most listened to The Food Programmes at any given point in the year, they pretty much all had some link to health, from how to feed your brain, the link between gut health and mental health, and food that helps you live longer. Health information is proliferating, and it’s more in depth than ever before. It’s no longer enough to say fruit and veg is healthy, when new research is showing groundbreaking links to how plants can reduce bowel cancers risk, Type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

Fibre and protein are hot topics

You can’t move for protein marketing on packs of energy bars these days, but the focus is slowly starting to include fibre as gut health scientists and celebrities like Tim Spector start to move public consciousness. But while the processed bars and supplements are winning most marketing space, there is much less said about the fibre of an apple or protein of a sweet potato.

No more one apple a day

One of the most striking differences between consumer food stories and trade marketing campaigns is the emphasis on eating multiple fruit and vegetables. Plant counter apps are now helping people eat 30 plants a week while the emphasis on a ‘rainbow’ of different fruit and veg, where diversity helps feed your gut, is becoming commonplace. Tapping into this trend by multi-product campaigns, spearheaded by a trade body or even a retailer, would perhaps be a better match for where health messaging is going at the consumer end.

Eating out is expensive, cookbooks continue to proliferate

Whether they make any money is a moot point, but there’s no doubt food books are booming, as are grassroots digital content creators with quick, easy, home cook recipes. Cooking from scratch using healthy ingredients (read: fruit, veg and whole foods) are still winning on social media and as a way of meeting both the trend for health and the thriftiness in a cost-of-living crisis, it’s a hard one to beat.

Plastic still cuts through 

One of the top issues that seems to be on the radar of both consumers and trade is possibly plastic. Consumers still see plastic as one of the top enemies to the environment, and one of the easiest ways they can cut their impact, other than reducing red meat. The trend for loose produce would seem to be matching that demand, while also helping people choose the exact amount they want to help save money and food waste.