Legumes day: Coldiretti, from beans to chickpeas consumption is increasing +15% with emergency covid stocks at home for fear of lockdown in Italy

Published 2021년 2월 10일

Tridge summary

Consumption of legumes in Italy increased by 15% during the Covid-19 pandemic, with the most popular being beans. The demand was driven by healthier eating habits and lockdowns leading to stocking up on long-lasting food. Legumes have numerous health benefits and are also good for soil fertility. However, national production has decreased due to competition from low-quality imports, with 70% of peas, over 50% of chickpeas, and 90% of lentils being imported. Despite 82% of consumers preferring Italian products, many are instead consuming foreign legumes, often from countries where regulations on chemicals and working conditions are not met. Coldiretti is calling for equal conditions, effective controls, and reciprocity of rules in food imports to support the national economy and ensure product quality.

Disclaimer:The above summary was generated by Tridge's proprietary AI model for informational purposes.

Original content

The consumption of legumes increased by 15% with values ranging from + 12% for chickpeas to + 28% for beans that are classified as the most loved by Italians in the year of Covid. This is what emerges from a Coldiretti analysis on Nielsen data in the year ending June 2020 on the occasion of the World Legumes Day established by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) as an opportunity to raise awareness the benefits of legumes for health and to contribute to sustainable food systems. Growing the demand for legumes - underlines Coldiretti - was the green turning point in consumer purchasing choices with the tendency to put healthier foods in the cart but also the lockdowns that lead to stocking up of long-life food products and need to contain domestic costs with convenient products of high nutritional quality. To increase - states Coldiretti - are also the processed products based on legume flour such as biscuits, crackers, pasta and bread substitutes. On the ...

Source: Agricolae