Super fruit expertise opens up super veggie potential

Expertise garnered from studying super fruit is opening up possibilities to make super veggies. NZ Plant & Food Research’s Karl Crawford tells Stephen Daniells how the recent merger between HortResearch and Crop & Food Research has opened up new possibilities for transferring knowledge from super fruit to vegetables and beyond.

The food industry is increasingly using super fruits in their functional food formulations, while the concept of the super veggie is perhaps limited by consumer perception and limited research.

Earlier this year, Professor Jeya Henry of Oxford Brookes University, England told FoodNavigator that success in the super veggie category would depend on a two-pronged strategy from the industry in regards to clinical research and marketing to entice consumers and processors to make greater use of the products.

He added that there is already some research into the potential health benefits of broccoli and spinach in food products, but a wider societal push is needed to make the products seem not only healthy, but appealing and exciting as well.