The prolonged economic crisis in Italy has led to a drastic change in the food consumption, with Italians reducing their consumption of many traditional products, such as oil, wine, fruit and vegetables, pasta or bread.
The alarm has been raised by trade association Coldiretti, which cites a survey that reveals that in 2014,olive oil consumption dropped to 9.2 kilograms a year, representing a 25% drop since the beginning of the economic in 2008. Italy is also behind Spain, where oil consumption is at an average of 10.4 kg and Greece at 16.3 kg per year.
The same scenario is also the case for wine, which saw a 19% reduction in consumption with an annual average of 20 million hectoliters.
Even the fresh fruit and vegetables sector was down by 7%, with an average of 130 kg, which is equivalent to no more than 360 grams per day - compared to 400 grams recommended by the World Health Organization.
In Italy, only 18% of the population over the age of 3 years eat at least four servings of fruits and vegetables.
When it comes to pasta, Italians remain the biggest consumers with an average of 26 kg per year per person, however there has been a drop in consumption as well as that of bread that fell to a record low of about 90 grams, equivalent to less than two slices of bread per day per person.
© 2015 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article written by Branislav Pekic
