Lifelong Health and Well-being for All
The Foundation for Fresh Produce and The International Fresh Produce Association are undertaking work to significantly improve global health through increased fruit and vegetable consumption.
Lifelong health and well-being for all through a diet rich in fruits and vegetables.
We envision a world where people live longer, healthier lives as a result of lifelong consumption of fruits and vegetables, starting from preconception and continuing throughout old age. This future is enabled by a food system and society where eating fruits and vegetables is easy and accessible, culturally reinforced, and socially the norm.
Global health uses interdisciplinary approaches to improve health outcomes for populations worldwide; it enhances well-being and prevents and reduces disease through systemic solutions, including safe and nutritious food for all—especially fruits and vegetables.
Fruit and vegetable consumption is an essential solution for global health and requires multi-level, multi-sector pathways for change.
Our Core Premise
We believe:
- A diet rich in fruits and vegetables is biologically optimal and critical for preventing and managing chronic disease.
- Historically, fruits and vegetables were dietary staples by necessity.
- Modern food systems have displaced them with ultra-processed, calorie-dense, less nutrient-rich options, requiring intentional education and reinforcement to restore their place at the center of diets.
- Furthermore, not everyone has access to fruits and vegetables today—whether for geographic reasons, economic barriers, cultural reasons, or geopolitical conflict.
A Lifespan Approach
Sustained access and desirability of fruits and vegetables across the lifespan are essential to normalize consumption and improve population health outcomes.
Daily throughout one's lifetime, individuals must have consistent access to appealing fruits and vegetables to ensure frequent consumption both at home and away from home.
Six Levers for Change
Inspired by the Social Ecological Model—recognizing the importance of working across the individual, interpersonal, organizational, community, and policy spheres of influence—and in alignment with the Produce for the Public Interest Power of Pull framework of the top 18 drivers of produce consumption, we work holistically across six key levers for change:
- Culture Shift: Educate, motivate, and empower individuals with skills to normalize consumption of the recommended amounts of fruits and vegetables (make the healthy choice the easy choice).
- Availability & Access: Integrate fruits and vegetables into all environments, especially the most influential early in life (e.g., childcare settings, schools) and for sustained exposure throughout the lifespan (e.g., retail and foodservice settings for daily consumption both at home and away from home).
- Affordability: Remove (or at least greatly reduce) cost as a barrier to consumption of fruits and vegetables.
- Healthcare Integration: Position fruits and vegetables as preventive and therapeutic.
- Policy Infrastructure: Incentivize production, procurement, and consumption (e.g., through subsidies, nutrition assistance programs, school meals).
- Business Ecosystem: Prioritize innovation and investment in produce, including physical infrastructure (e.g., cold chain, distribution, packaging).
These six levers are often interlinked with one another, and they provide the central pathways to achieving the outcomes outlined in our three focus areas. Given innumerable structural barriers to greater produce consumption, there is a need for coordinated, sustained intervention across all these levels, and the produce industry has a critical and unique role to play.
Structural Enabler: Industry Resilience & Capacity
A stable, resilient, innovative produce industry is essential to an affordable, safe, accessible, appealing supply of fruits and vegetables.
To support the vision of optimal healthspan for all through lifelong consumption of fruits and vegetables, the source of that produce must be reliable over time, adaptable to change, resilient to the impacts of climate change, and consistently delivered safely and at high quality.
Role of the Fruit and Vegetable Industry:
- Supply chain reach and resilience
- Sustainable production practices
- Public-private partnerships
- Innovative and ethical marketing strategies
- Food safety
- Support research at all steps of F&V production and consumption (e.g., evaluating if and how programs work, specialty crop innovation, personalized nutrition, etc.)
Enabling Conditions & Systemic Realities of the Global Produce Industry
Tailwinds
- Global recognition of diet's role in Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD) prevention.
- Increased interest in whole and minimally processed foods and "food is medicine."
- Political momentum in some countries for universal health coverage and food security.
- Relative sustainability of fruits and vegetables compared to other food groups.
Headwinds
- Decreased funding.
- Food system inequities (access, cost, availability).
- Climate disruption, labor shortages.
- Misaligned incentives (subsidies, marketing of unhealthy foods).
- Low public trust or attention to dietary behavior change.
- Lack of universal access to health coverage and food security.
- Potential continued use of GLP1 drugs, and the importance of understanding/monitoring/adapting to resulting changes.
Geographic Priorities for Change (Global North & South)
Geography and economic conditions must be taken into consideration. Rather than apply a one-size-fits-all approach, we believe in a holistic change framework to recognize differences in different regions:
Regional Priority Approaches
Global North: Replace ultra-processed foods (currently overconsumed) with more F&V and other nutrient-dense foods, promote more sustainable food systems including reducing food waste.
Global South: Enhance supply chain capacity, address micronutrient deficiency, school feeding, promote more sustainable food systems including reducing food loss.
Our Organizations’ Three Focus Areas
While many actors across the ecosystem are working to realize this vision, we, as the International Fresh Produce Association and Foundation for Fresh Produce, see our role as best being able to make change in a few critical domains.
While we work holistically across six key levers for change, we take a lifespan approach and focus our efforts on three core areas:
A. Early Intervention and Child Nutrition
- Starts before birth: preconception, pregnancy, and postpartum nutrition ensures healthy fetal development and taste formation.
- Early and repeated exposure throughout childhood (both at home and away from home, including childcare settings, schools, foodservice settings) creates preferences and habits.
- Education, including not only children themselves but through education of those most influential in shaping children's lifelong eating habits, such as chefs, teachers, pediatricians/doctors, registered dietitians, dentists, parents/caregivers, etc.
B. Food is Medicine
- For people at risk for and already living with chronic conditions, fruits and vegetables are therapeutic tools in chronic disease prevention and management—reducing disease progression, improving treatment outcomes, and reducing healthcare costs.
- In alignment with the Tufts Food is Medicine pyramid, FIM programs span both prevention and treatment, from healthy food policies and nutrition security programs, to produce prescriptions and medically tailored meals.
- Fruits and vegetables were an ancient way to both keep people healthy and heal their bodies, long before modern medicine. Food is Medicine represents the front line for preventing chronic disease—and saving substantial healthcare costs as a result—as well as a suite of tools to be paired with pharmaceuticals and other medical solutions for disease management.
C. Public-Private Partnerships for Nutrition Equity
- Encouraging cross-sector collaboration between governments, private companies, and NGOs to increase access to fresh, healthy foods in underserved communities. This includes leveraging technology, policy reforms, and procurement strategies to make nutritious food more affordable and accessible, while addressing regulatory barriers and aligning dietary guidelines globally.
Our Outcomes
As a result of focusing on these three priority pathways for impact, while supporting the vast ecosystem of change across many more levers, and with the necessary enabling conditions in place—industry resilience and assurance of a safe and stable supply chain, forward-thinking strategies for addressing both headwinds and tailwinds, and place-based approaches tailored to unique regional challenges—the following outcomes can be achieved for human health:
- Increased consumption of fruits and vegetables throughout the lifespan, especially prenatal and early childhood. Made possible by:
- Expanded access and affordability in underserved communities.
- Normalized fruit and vegetable culture in homes, schools, and media.
- Demonstrated ROI to all stakeholders (industry, healthcare, government). This leads to:
- Industry investment in and implementation of health-forward innovations.
- Greater participation among healthcare providers because of better alignment in incentive systems and outcomes.
- Policy advancements in support of F&V, including F&V in feeding programs globally and expansion of food-is-medicine programs.
Long-Term Impact and Feedback Loops
A food system and society where eating fruits and vegetables is accessible and normal for everyone, contributing to both longer lives (lifespan) and healthier lives (healthspan).
Feedback Loops
- As demand for fruits and vegetables grows, the industry responds with innovation and accessibility.
- As affordability improves and fruits and vegetables are normalized, socio-cultural and economic barriers diminish.
- Data and outcomes reinforce policy and healthcare system investment.
Macro Measures of Long-Term Impact:
- Perception of Fruits and Vegetables: Public recognition of fruits and vegetables as essential, desirable, and the norm.
- Cost of Diet: Cost of fruits and vegetables. Percentage of population able to afford a healthy diet that includes fruits and vegetables.
- Food Security / Access: Fruit and vegetable access in schools, homes, underserved areas.
- Diet Quality: Volume of fruits and vegetables consumed per capita.
- Prevalence of Diet-Related Diseases: Rates of:
- Type 2 diabetes
- Heart disease & stroke o Hypertension
- Obesity o Nutrition-related cancers (colorectal cancer, post-menopausal, etc.)
- Macular degeneration
- Cognitive decline
- Dental caries in children
- Digestive disorders
- Life Expectancy: Healthy life years and overall life expectancy.
Contact Us
Join us in our mission to improve global health through increased fruit and vegetable consumption.

Eboni Wall
VP, Consumer Foundation & Strategic Partnerships
International Fresh Produce Association