Author: B.A.A Bray

So we know that vegetables are good for us but the consumption in the UK has been decreasing over the last 20 years of the 5 a day campaign.
The proportion of people in the UK with obesity now stands around a third but we have low vitamin D status, consume too little fibre and have low iron, folate and selenium levels in certain groups of the population.

Clearly, eating more food hasn’t been working for us. We are not just getting bigger but the quality of our health is reducing, mainly due to the nutritional quality of our diet, amongst other factors.

Vegetables do hold the key to this problem and using the right approach that fits in with increased personalisation of food, convenience, plant based trends and wellness an improvement in the nutritional quality of the UK diet can be achieved.

I saw in Shanghai and in South Korea that vegetables are plentiful and cheap. Food is often consumed outside of the home although there are also dishes of limited nutritional benefit.

Bucket sized instant noodles in Shanghai and Chi-maek (Chicken and beer) in South Korea spring to mind.

The fast food is generally composed of rice or noodles with a meat and vegetable accompaniment.

Food can easily be bought through e-commerce channels and especially in Shanghai, prepared meal components can be delivered home within an hour of ordering. These increased efficient ways of shopping reduce the time spent on meal preparation but allow the same types of food to be consumed.

Western style outlets exist such as MacDonald’s and Starbucks but rather than being a daily habit, they are frequented more as a treat.
The food guides for both of these countries specify the quantities and types of vegetables that people are supposed to eat.

The dietary survey carried out in South Korea shows that levels of micronutrients consumed is generally acceptable with the exception of calcium which is slightly below optimum. The Koreans have different dietary issues and bio-fortification of vegetables there is not a consideration due to the high consumption of variety of volume of vegetables, however, reduction of salt in foods is an issue.

The Australasian neighbours have similar dietary patterns and issues to the UK.
Vegetable consumption is not great and in NZ the 5 + A Day message is recognised by 80% of the population but consumption is not actually increasing.
The NZ Plant & Food health does work on improving the nutritional density of food through products such as Vital Vegetables and the green kiwi. A joint project with the Australians the Vital Vegetables range was created with a focus on products that could deliver a substantiated health claim such as bone health, eye health, immunity etc.

Using a team including researchers, nutritionists, growers, retailers and the manufacturing and marketing company the result is a range of bagged salads and slaws which look both colourful and attractive. The green kiwi has been promoted for its digestive health benefits and the marketing around this includes the health claim but additional softer messaging about great quality of life. Zespri has proprietary use of the claim.

Another collaboration which has worked well is that of the Ministry of Health, chip oil manufacturers, food service providers and Potatoes NZ. Consumption of fried chips in the country is high and one of the main sources of fat and salt in the diet. Realising that it would not be successful in telling the population to eat fewer chips, the Ministry of Health looked at a chip nutrition project with Potatoes NZ to improve chip quality and reduce the amount of oil and salt through training the food service staff. All the stakeholders supported the measure and the small changes that the cooks have been able to make around choice of oil, cooking temperature, portion size etc are now resulting in a reduction of fat and salt in the national diet.

Mushrooms are a crop which deliver a range of vitamins but the NZ consumer doesn’t necessarily know how to cook them. In order to get consumers to pick them up, Meadow Mushrooms looked at the barriers to purchase and then categorised their range to fit with popular menus. For example button mushrooms for pasta, Portabello mushrooms for burgers and additional themed menus based on recipes from other countries. The nutritional information is still present but on the packaging it is shown as an info-bite rather than a health claim which doesn’t particularly speak to an individual consumer need.

Te Mata mushrooms take a different approach and treat their mushrooms with a shot of UV light to enhance the vitamin D levels. Labelling is focused on the health claim and the supermarket sells the product at a higher price to differentiate them from the standard product.

The Ministry of Primary Agriculture launched the latest labelling regulations in 2016 and had the advantage of being able to look at the EFSA documentation and improve on it for the Australian and NZ fresh produce growers. The result is a list of pre-approved claims which lend themselves to fruit and vegetables, a proprietary system which enables people who have done their own research to have exclusivity on a claim and a self-certification system avoiding submission in advance if a standard claim is being used.

New Zealand has a range of initiatives, a regulatory support system and a collaborative way of working across research, crop production, manufacture and marketing that enables the fresh produce industry to promote the nutritional quality of the crops, despite limited finances.
Whilst vegetable consumption may not be increasing, there are small steps being made in the right direction.

I divided my time in South Korea between the capital Seoul and Daegu in the South where I stayed with my friend Hyeon and her family.

My timing could have been better, as my trip coincided with Donald Trump’s and the heavy security only added to the challenges of a foreigner trying to get round Seoul.

I persevered and had some good meetings. I had wonderful hospitality in Daegu and was impressed with the beautiful landscape and the delicious food.

Here are my thoughts on South Korea

Anuga, Cologne 2017

A trade fair for all food sectors that embraces innovation, food trends and social change.

Another country better known for it’s bad news rather than the good, Israel was the 4th country on the Nuffield GFP tour.

From the cherry farm next to the Syrian border in the north from where we could see plumes of smoke rising in the distance, the Palestinian restaurants in the West Bank, to the Moshav villages in the Arava in the south, there is one overriding feature.

The Israelis embrace risk and failure at a level that is truly breathtaking. The country is 4th in a table of innovative countries to startup a business. Relations with their neighbours may be difficult but under this environment the communities of different religions seem to thrive against the odds.

According to the Israeli head of SOSA, an organisation sponsored by the Australian government to support start up businesses, their secret is the attitude of living life to the maximum.  The high risks may create failures, but they also reap rich rewards.

We travelled to Ofaimme Farm in Arava, in the North Negev desert where we met Inon.

Over a delicious breakfast at his farm cafe, he told us how he used to grow capsicum peppers for export to the UK and Europe. The business was labour intensive and he had 50 temporary workers from Thailand working in the crop and the packhouse. The profit margin was quite small and the business had to grow constantly to be viable.

Every 7 years, land in the Arava has to be rested for a year under the Jewish religious law. Inon used this ‘gap year’ to travel the world with his family, visiting friends and farms as far away as New Zealand. He brought back many new ideas from his travels as he realised that his business was neither sustainable nor satisfactory for a good work/life balance.

Pepper production was stopped and Alpine goats, poultry and vegetable crops were introduced to the farm. The goats are fed with a combination of grain and barley which is grown hydroponically on site.

The feed helps keep the animals cool in the desert heat without the need for washing them with cold water. Solar panels on the roof of the goat shed run the fans and lighting for the goats and chickens. Manure from the livestock goes into compost which can be used on the farm. Not only is the system sustainable, it is also organic and Kosher certified.

Ofaimme maximise their profitability by having an additional business of cafes and a delicatessan, managed by Inon’s brother who is a chef and food writer.

The eggs are sold to local farmers who run organic vegetable box delivery scheme. Eggs with a poor or dirty appearance are used by the kitchen and delicatessan in the meals and baked goods.

The goat’s milk is used for labneh and cheese which is also used in the cafes and delicatessan.

The remarkable thing is that these goats were stolen from the farm last year and took several weeks to get only some of them back. Once back on farm they realised that the goats had been so badly handled, that the business would not be viable unless new goats were sourced. This was certainly a setback for the business especially as in their first year the goat dairy products were under development and nothing was sold until the ideal product had been created.

The Ofaimme brand now includes 400 products from honey to olive oil and dates, sourced from local organic farmers. Inon treats the theft of their livestock as a bump in the road and have built a stable and profitable brand that is not dependent on one key customer. There are now 5 Israelis workers supported by volunteers from the Woofer scheme.

It was truly inspirational to see how this business has been revamped from a classic export business of high cost low margin to become a sustainable, organic business serving the local community with local product.