Consumption of unsung hero rises by 18pc during cost of living crisis

Consumers want to know how a product will benefit them and its environmental story, according to Imperial College London food marketing Emeritus Professor David Hughes, saying these needs had since overtaken previous consumer demands.

"An example is blueberries. Go to China, they are buying them by the packets because of its specific health benefit to the eyes," he said.

"Avocados are the same - consumers know a lot about its direct benefit to them.

"It is not good enough for potato producers to not market why their product is specifically good for a particular aspect of health - that is what people want to know."

Since the start of the pandemic and rising inflation, food industry trends have changed, Prof Hughes said, with consumers perceiving fresh fruit and vegetables as too expensive to purchase each week.

In March 2022, the world reached its peak food inflation, which had not been recorded since April 1973.

"Food costs were 20 per cent higher than what we are experiencing this year," Prof Hughes said.

"Not just in Australia but across Europe, the consumption of fresh fruit and vegetables per capita has gone down."

Prof Hughes believed, although this was not great news for fruit and vegetable producers, potato consumption had gained traction.

Australian consumers have taken to the humble to potato more than in other countries throughout 2024, with consumption up by 18pc.

The Australian retail sales of the potato is in the $1 billion territory and single person households are flying the flag for higher consumption.

About 22pc of Australian households identified as a single person and they had created a strong demand for small packs of potatoes and other processed potato products.

Prof Hughes believed fresh and processed potato products had become a classic cost-of-living-crisis meal for many households.

Looking at a range of supermarket chains, he highlighted consumers had an option to pay as little as $1.28 a kilogram for potatoes or ,at the higher end, $8.45/kg.

When shopping online, the average large supermarket retailer had 77 pages of potato-related pages for consumers to choose from.

"It is pretty hard luck if your product is on page three. Fresh produce is a real challenge with online purchasing," Prof Hughes said.

Some newcomers to the potato market are mashed potatoes, with overseas consumers buying this product weekly.

"It has really increased in traction overseas and if you go back four years ago, it was barely available. So, the market is changing rapidly," Prof Hughes said.

Suddenly, frozen mashed potato is a part of the potato repertoire and data has shown, it will continue to be so.

Since becoming a routine purchase overseas, Australian supermarket chains Coles and Woolworths have jumped on board and are offering the product at $3 - for mashed potatoes from Belgium - to about $7, for Australian produce.

According to Prof Hughes, food trends had shown it was about price, convenience and intriguingly, environment and sustainability for consumers.

"We are seeing a generation of value seeking and deal conscious consumers, as well as consumers conscious of their own values and the suppliers - the social values," he said.

"Consumers are sick to death of greenwashing. They want transparency. They want suppliers to help reduce their carbon impact and food waste."

Prof Hughes also wanted the potato sector to communicate its health benefits more clearly to the consumer and jazz up its in-store displays to entice more consumers to eat potatoes.

"In fresh produce, in general, we are hopeless at it," he said.

"In almost every country, I have seen a rise in consumers which understand whatever they put in their stomachs, has a direct impact on individual health and health of the planet.

"This is driven by younger generations and they are becoming the major consumers."

As a result, Nutri-Scores are expected to be on all products in the not so distant future.

It is basically a traffic light system to show which food products are good or not so good for your health.

"It is already in Europe and it will begin to catch on. It will undoubtedly be a challenge for anyone in the food industry," Prof Hughes said.