FROM THE HARVESTER, JANUARY 1977

SURVEY SHOWS MORE FRESH PURCHASES

A recent Harris survey of 1,500 adults across the country indicates they are buying more fresh fruits and vegetables. The poll also shows many of them are buying less canned and frozen fruits and vegetables. Approximately 26 percent of the persons surveyed said they were buying more fresh vegetables than before, and 27 percent said they were buying more fresh fruits, according to an article in Outlook magazine.

Participants in the survey, which covered a variety of products ranging from aspirin to sport jackets, were asked if they were buying more, less or the same amount of more than 30 products compared with five years ago. The results indicate some major changes in lifestyles, particularly eating habits, throughout the country.

In the food category, consumers indicated they are buying more hamburger, poultry and fish, in addition to fresh fruits and vegetables, and less steak, frozen food dinners, sugar, candy, canned meat, soft drinks and canned and frozen fruits and vegetables. The survey attributes many of the changes to prices, a growing public desire to have food in its natural rather than in preserved form, and a greater interest in health and nutrition.

The projections are contained in The Impact of Some Demographic Changes on U.S. Food Consumption, 1965-75 and 1975-90 by Corinne B. LeBovit, National Economic Analysis division, published in the National Food Situation, NFS-156, May 1976.