There may never have been a better cultural moment for fresh produce. Consumers are talking about fiber, nutrient density and functional nutrition. GLP-1 medications are changing appetites and putting greater emphasis on what each bite delivers. The Make America Healthy Again movement has pushed ingredients, processing and food choices into the national conversation. Across nearly every major wellness trend, fresh fruits and vegetables seem perfectly positioned.
And yet, wanting to eat better and buying more produce are not the same thing. That disconnect may be one of the fresh produce industry’s biggest opportunities.
At FullTilt Marketing, we use consumer food trend intelligence to understand how the language, motivations and behaviors around food are changing. A recent Tastewise analysis of fresh fruits and vegetables examined more than 4.7 million consumers, 20.3 million consumer panel signals and nearly 3 million recipes.
The findings suggest that produce isn’t losing its relevance. But the way consumers define that relevance is changing. Overall consumer engagement was down 1.7% year over year, while engagement around major commodity names including apples, tomatoes and avocados declined sharply.
FutureBridge’s Consumomics research presents an even bigger paradox: 78% of consumers say produce quality and selection influence where they shop, but only 42% purchase produce on a given trip. The researchers describe fresh produce as a “high-intent, low-activation” category.
In other words, consumers believe in produce; the problem is converting belief into behavior.
Shifting Health Vocabulary
For decades, the produce industry has had one of the easiest health stories in food: fruits and vegetables are good for you. But today’s consumer is more specific about what “good for you” means.
Tastewise data shows declining engagement with broad wellness terms. “Healthy” declined 21.8% year over year, “vitamins” declined 16.1%, “plant based” fell 28.8% and “clean eating” declined 33.3%. That doesn’t necessarily signal a retreat from health. It suggests consumers are moving away from umbrella labels toward more tangible outcomes.
At the same time, more specific signals are gaining traction. Fiber engagement is growing, while emerging language such as “clean label,” “real fruit,” “no artificial colors” and “seed-oil free” reflect growing consumer attention to what food contains — and what it doesn’t. Tastewise identifies these as early consumer signals rather than mainstream behaviors, but together they point toward a shift: Consumers increasingly want health translated into action.
This creates an opportunity for suppliers and retailers to move beyond simply calling produce healthy to telling shoppers what food does.
Focus on Nutrient Density
The use of GLP-1 medications may be accelerating this shift toward more outcome-based food choices faster than anything else.
FutureBridge’s analysis reports produce spending among GLP-1 adopters running approximately 10% higher even as their total grocery spending declines. The underlying behavior is logical: smaller appetites increase the importance of nutrient density, portion size, freshness and quality.
For the produce industry, however, the opportunity is bigger than marketing to people taking weight-loss medications. GLP-1 behavior is part of a broader shift toward intentional eating: smaller satisfying portions, fiber, nutrient-rich foods, convenient options without waste and food choices that work harder.
The smarter strategy is not to create a shelf filled with “GLP-1-friendly” claims. It is to merchandise around the behaviors these consumers are accelerating: nutrient density, appropriate portions, convenient preparation, fiber and freshness.
Building Consumer Trust
This is where the produce opportunity becomes complicated. Consumers may want healthier foods, but fresh produce requires a level of trust that many packaged categories do not.
Will it taste good? Is it ripe? How long will it last? Will I use it before it spoils? Is it safe? Is it worth it?
Inflation intensifies every one of those questions. When consumers feel financially constrained, a disappointing $5 produce purchase isn’t just disappointing; it’s evidence that the next $5 could be spent somewhere else.
The Consumomics model treats trust as a behavioral multiplier rather than simply another purchase attribute. Its modeling finds that a single spoilage experience creates a 35% probability of category avoidance for four or more weeks, while a food-safety concern raises the modeled probability of avoidance to 60% for eight or more weeks or potentially longer.
The implication for industry leaders is clear: Freshness, quality and food safety are not separate from marketing. They are marketing.
The produce industry can spend millions encouraging consumers to eat more fruits and vegetables, but that message becomes much harder to convert when a shopper has experienced poor quality, premature spoilage or anxiety following a highly publicized food-safety event.
Health creates desire. Trust determines whether desire becomes a repeat purchase.
Closing the Gap
The most immediate opportunity for suppliers and retailers is to make produce easier to understand, easier to choose and easier to trust.
Make the benefit specific. Instead of relying exclusively on “healthy,” communicate substantiated attributes consumers increasingly recognize: fiber, nutrient density or other functional benefits.
Make the product specific. Tastewise finds that while engagement around broad commodity names is softening, engagement with named varieties and origins is growing. Fuji apple engagement increased 20.2%, Japanese sweet potato 16.9%, garlic scapes 11.8% and green garlic 9.4%. That does not necessarily mean more SKUs. It means what is already there can be merchandised with greater meaning. Name the variety. Explain how it tastes. Tell consumers how to use it. Highlight seasonality. Connect it to its growing region when that adds value.
Make confidence visible. Origin, growers, freshness practices, seasonality, traceability and appropriate food-safety information should not exist only on a supplier’s corporate website. They can help close the sale when they appear closer to the buying decision. FutureBridge’s modeling identifies transparent sourcing and freshness guarantees as significant drivers of purchase frequency.
Driving Healthy Sales
For decades, produce marketing has operated from a reasonable assumption: if consumers better understood how good fruits and vegetables are for them, they would eat more. Today’s consumer understands.
The opportunity now is closing the distance between knowing and doing.
Health gives produce consideration. Specific benefits give shoppers a reason to choose. Value and convenience make the choice realistic. Freshness, safety and quality give them confidence to return.
Fresh produce may be more aligned with today’s consumer than almost any other category in the store. But alignment alone doesn’t create growth. The next era of produce sales will be won by turning healthy intentions into confident purchases, and confident purchases into habits.
- Melinda Goodman is the president of Minot, North Dakota-based FullTilt Marketing.