Agri-food: ISMEA analysis shows Italian families' growing interest in fruit and vegetables.

Italian families are confirming a strong focus on healthy, sustainable, and plant-based diets and are rediscovering the pleasure of cooking at home. This is what emerges from the analysis presented by ISMEA at Macfrut 2026, titled “Fruit and Vegetable Purchases by Families with Children Under 16 – The Choices of Families That Nourish Generation Alpha.” The discussion, organized in the Masaf-Ismea area dedicated to the Community Fruit and Vegetables in Schools Program, managed by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty, and Forestry, featured Livio Proietti (Ismea President), Sergio Marchi (Ismea Director General), and Mario Schiano Lo Moriello (Ismea Supply Chain and Markets Directorate).

In 2025, total household spending on food and non-alcoholic beverages reached €193,7 billion, up 3% from the previous year. Within the sector, fruit and vegetables remain the leading players, with a value of nearly €43 billion and a 23% share of total food spending.

Data from the ISMEA-NIQ Observatory highlight a widespread increase in fruit and vegetable consumption, both in value and volume. Specifically, in 2025, purchases of vegetables (+3,3%), potatoes (+5,3%), nuts (+2,7%), canned vegetables and legumes (+0,7%), frozen vegetables (+0,8%), frozen potatoes (+1,4%), chestnuts (+4,6%), kiwis (+7,2%), and strawberries (+8,9%) are expected to grow, with particularly strong performances for certain categories such as berries (blueberries +26%, blackberries +37%) and tropical fruit (mangoes +36%, avocados +47%). The organic segment is also very positive, recording a 7% increase in quantity and 7,9% in value. Consumer choices are influenced by profound demographic and social changes: Italy has over 26,6 million families, approximately 4 million more than 20 years ago, with a growing incidence of single-person households (currently 36%, over 10 percentage points higher than 20 years ago). Couples with children make up 28% of families, followed by 11% single-parent families, while 20% are childless couples.

In this context, families with Generation Alpha children—those born after 2010—represent a strategic segment. Raised in a digital environment and in smaller households, these young consumers increasingly influence purchasing decisions. Their relationship with fruit and vegetables, however, remains ambivalent: while parents promote a balanced diet, children are exposed to a wide range of food options, including snacks, convenience products, and foods with a high hedonistic content. Families with children under 16 also show a greater propensity for products with a high service content, such as frozen foods, canned legumes, ready-to-eat vegetables, and fruit juices, with higher-than-average purchase rates. Despite this, fresh fruit and vegetables continue to be central to the consumer’s shopping basket, albeit with a slightly lower share than the national average.

“Programs like Fruit and Vegetables in Schools, promoted by the European Union and implemented in Italy by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forestry, are therefore essential,” emphasized ISMEA Director General Sergio Marchi. “The distribution of fresh, seasonal fruit and vegetables in primary school classrooms, which this year for the first time began in the early months of the school year, not only introduces children to regular fruit and vegetable consumption but also helps build healthy habits that can be consolidated over time.”

Generation Alpha thus confirms its role as a crucial target for the future of the fruit and vegetable sector: young, influential, and particularly receptive to educational messages, it represents a strategic lever for guiding tomorrow’s consumption.

(Adnkronos)