More than half of the children know the European Fresh Team! The program of the National Chamber of Agrarian Economy has completed three successful years

(Photo: NAK/Zsolt Lévai)

The press conference was opened by Balázs Győrffy, the president of NAK. He said that the program of the National Chamber of Agriculture, promoting the consumption of vegetables and fruits, the European Fresh Team, was launched in 2021, as a continuation of the successful European Fresh Adventures, which ran from 2018-2020. “This means that, in addition to its basic activities, NAK is campaigning specifically within the framework of these programs for the sixth year in order to increase the knowledge of children, young people and families about vegetables and fruits. Whether it’s about cultivation, usability, regular consumption, or their positive effects on health,” said the NAK president about the program.

Balázs Győrffy: the popularity of the program and its characters doubled

“The European Fresh Team program ends a fantastic three years, as during this time the program and its characters have doubled in popularity among the 6-18 age group. 59% of the children and 56% of the parents know the European Fresh Team and its mascots, Frutti, Veggit and Káosz,” emphasized Balázs Győrffy, the president of NAK. He added that this result is made even more valuable by the fact that the 6-18-year-olds found the campaign especially entertaining and, in connection with this, the consumption of vegetables and fruits. According to recent research by Ipsos, 92% of 6-10-year-olds, 87% of 11-14-year-olds and 81% of 15-18-year-olds felt this way. Balázs Győrffy specifically mentioned that in order to win over young people, an online presence and personal, direct meeting points were absolutely necessary. The European Fresh Team program appears on almost all social media platforms with content suitable for the target group. The program’s Facebook page gained nearly 13,000 followers, and the Instagram page reached almost 1 million young people in the last three years. The most popular video of the European Fresh Team on TikTok was seen by 2 million people. In addition, you could meet the European Fresh Team at various sports and family events, or during weekend shopping. During the three years, the program participated in 20 events across the country, and customers could meet Frutti, Veggi and Káos in 40 stores, tasting nearly 4,500 kg of vegetables and fruits with children and families, demonstrating the power of fresh vegetables and fruits. It also became clear from his greeting that the program’s awareness is important from several points of view. On the one hand, the more people encounter the program’s messages, the greater the chance that the average daily consumption of vegetables and fruits can continue to increase, which shows a lag among the 6-18-year-old age group and young families compared to the World Health Organization’s recommendation of a minimum of 400 grams per day. On the other hand, by expanding knowledge about vegetables and fruits, their content, cultivation, usability, or even their taste, the European Fresh Team can draw attention to domestically grown quality products, thus strengthening demand for them. “The European Fresh Team program is successful and necessary” – the president of NAK evaluated what was said at the end of his speech.

(Photo: NAK/Zsolt Lévai)

Diána Sidlovits: usage habits can be changed

Dr. Diána Sidlovits, NAK’s horticulture group leader and EU project coordinator, showed in her presentation what these results mean in the daily life and eating habits of a family. He said that the consumption habits and attitudes of parents and children are slowly changing, but it was clearly revealed from the Ipsos research that, as a result of the program, they feel more at home in the kitchen when it comes to meals made with fresh vegetables and fruits. As a result, the types of food and dishes made from vegetables or fruits occur in a higher proportion in their meals. “Compared to itself, this is best seen in the case of vegetables. One of the conclusions of our foundational research in 2021 was that vegetables were undeservedly neglected in our diet. We definitely wanted to improve on this. With the involvement of our dietitian, we issued a press release, shared our own recipe and of course actively used social media. And now the result is an exact increase of 11%,” Diána Sidlovits emphasized. He explained that the Ipsos research shows that 71% of children like to cook with fresh vegetables and fruits as a result of the program. Three-quarters of them are already involved in the purchase of vegetables and fruits by their parents, which also means that parents also talk to their children about vegetables and fruits, their selection, preparation or consumption, as they also feel better informed on the subject. Finally, he drew attention to the fact that they managed to achieve these great results in an environment where they had to compete for the attention of children and teenagers with other convenience products with significantly larger marketing budgets than the Frutti-Veggi program, such as sweets, snacks, soft drinks, energy drinks.

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