ACS (the Association of Convenience Stores) has welcomed a report from the Food Foundation on its Peas Please initiative which highlights the essential role that local shops play in providing healthy food to their communities.
Launched today (1st December) the report reveals that since Peas Please was launched in 2017, 636 million cumulative additional portions of vegetables have been sold or served. Over the course of the past 12 months alone, Peas Please have added over 403 million portions to the total, which represents encouraging progress towards the goal of 3 billion additional portions of veg sold by 2023.
In the report, ACS was recognised as a pledger who has updated and expanded their pledges in the past year, with regular activity to update retailers on changes to the Healthy Start scheme and polling of independent retailers on their fruit and veg sales.
Key findings from the report include:
- There are now 105 pledgers and 21 of these pledgers have updated and expanded their commitments
- 513 organisations are taking part in Veg Cities
- 43 million people watched the third Veg Power advertising campaign
ACS chief executive James Lowman said: “Local shops have a unique reach into the lives of their communities play a vital role in offering a healthy food provision for their customers and this was particularly evident during the Covid-19 pandemic when other businesses were forced to close.
“Over the years, convenience retailers have actively and positively engaged with a range of campaigns to increase the consumption of fruit and vegetables in their local areas including Change4Life, Healthy Start and Peas Please. We’re pleased to see that the Peas Please report has recognised the important role that local shops play in contributing to healthier communities.”
More information about Peas Please is available here https://foodfoundation.org.uk/peasplease/
