Vegetable intake remains a ‘huge problem’ in the UK, with 80% of adults and children failing to eat enough greens. According to the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation research a low consumption of vegetables and pulses is associated with 30,000 premature deaths every year.
Peas Please aims to make it easier for everyone in the UK, particularly those on a low income, to eat more vegetables.
In 2019 the Peas Please scheme received £1.6 million in funding from the National Lottery Community Fund, which will support the project to deliver more than a billion additional portions of vegetables by 2023.
The majority of support for the campaign has come from supermarkets (Sainsburys and Tesco) along with contract caterers working in the business and industry sector such as BaxterStorey.
A new report from the Peas Please project highlighted ‘veg pledges’ made by 63 contract caterers, high street chains and public food producers. Tesco sold 28 million additional portions of veg alone and BaxterStorey successfully increased the overall percentage of vegetables in their meals by 15%.
January has seen the launch of Veg Power’s #EatThemToDefeatThem evaluation report. The campaign was viewed by 38 million people on ITV and according to Pearl Metrics there was a 2.3% uplift in vegetable sales during this period.
Baroness Rosie Boycott, Veg Power chair, said: “This report is just the beginning of our journey. One campaign is not going to change the world. But the positive results we have seen already are nothing short of an extraordinary start.”
A Childwise and YouGov survey suggested that attitudes and behaviour amongst young children and their parents started to change after watching the advert.
According to the survey 64% of children aged between six and 11 liked the advert and 43% of children said they wanted to eat more vegetables as a result of seeing the advert.
Anna Taylor, executive director of the Food Foundation, added: “Selling 90 million additional portions of veg in two years is proof that it’s possible to make a real impact when businesses take the challenge seriously.
“The Veg Power advertising campaign has shown us how to increase demand for vegetables, and our Peas Please pledgers have done an impressive job of upping the supply. But we’re still frighteningly far off eating the five a day minimum, and we’re facing a public health crisis.
“Food businesses across the UK must keep up with consumer needs: it’s time to show leadership and creativity in making veg an appealing, affordable and convenient choice.”
For every one of your five-a-day eaten you reduce your risk of mortality diseases by 5%. Eating more vegetables can help to reduce diet-related illnesses including heart disease, cancer and type 2 diabetes.
To read the Peas Please progress report click on the document below.