Healthy eating campaigns have long promoted to consumers the importance of getting plenty of fruit and vegetables in their diets.
The fruit and vegetable sector includes both fresh and frozen produce, as well as canned foods.
Ingredients of this kind, however, also include goods such as pastes, pulps, powders, juices and by-products.
Consumers often like to perceive fruit and vegetable ingredients as natural, so this is a prominent theme among the claims made by producers.
Other similar terms that may be used are organic, pure, wild or non GMO.
Vegetables fall into a number of different categories. These can include stalk and stem types, roots and tubers, legumes, bulbs, and fruiting, leafy or brassica vegetables. Pulses are often used as well.
Fruits may be classed as exotic, citrus, stone fruits, tropical or sub-tropical.
Other forms in which fruit and vegetable ingredients may appear include as flakes, granules, concentrates, skins or peels. Vegetables may be produced as stock, while fruit james, nectars and compotes are other common ingredients.
Some examples of frequently used fruits and vegetables are strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and cranberries, as well as boysenberries, lingonberries, mulberries and gojiberries.
Head or flowerhead cabbages commonly appear within food products as well.
Market reports published by the Bharat Book Bureau have shown that in 2008, the UK retail sector for fresh fruit and vegetables was worth £8.43 billion, showing a rise of 8.3 per cent compared to the previous year.
Figures from Mintel show that fresh, frozen and canned fruit and vegetables have all seen growth in demand in the UK and that the rise in food prices has affected the sector.
