Towards a Greener Europe: how preserved fruit and vegetables help to sustain our food supply
PROFEL’S ROADMAP TOWARDS THE EUROPEAN GREEN DEAL GOALS
As climate change starts to demonstrate its profound effects on our food production systems, there is a growing urgency to move towards a more sustainable food supply. The processed fruit and vegetable sector contributes to the EU’s goals on Farm to Fork and Biodiversity , and holds important answers to Europe’s key food challenges of providing sustainably produced fruit and vegetables, and helping people to increase their daily intake of these healthy plant-based foods.
Delivering a positive contribution to the EU’s Circular Economy and Healthy Nutrition Policy, our sector is reliant on high quality seasonal outdoor crops, grown close to the processing plants, harvested at peak of ripeness. In preserving the field-fresh raw materials we lock-in vitamins, antioxidants, dietary fiber and phenolic compounds, and create year-round access to a vast range of fruit and vegetables at affordable prices, that are easy to prepare, with high nutritional value, and with a long shelf-life that keeps food waste to a minimum.
The brochure highlights a range of areas where our member companies are striving towards a more sustainable production. PROFEL members embrace the ambitions of the European Green Deal, and look forward to making a significant contribution towards each and every goal. European policy formers and decision makers can help our sector achieve more by taking our needs into consideration and creating a European framework that will enable us to play our part.
The processed fruit and vegetable sector provides employment to more than 80.000 people - both direct and indirect jobs, mostly in rural areas. The sector’s combined turnover amounts to roughly €22 billion.
