Ready Meals: Fruit And Veg Boost To Help Health

More fruit and vegetables are to be added to ready meals in a new drive to help people eat more healthily.

Participating supermarkets will expand their fruit and vegetable sections and make the produce more appealing to children under the latest Responsibility Deal pledge.

It aims to increase the number of people hitting their "five a day" target after a study found 70% are failing to meet the recommended daily requirement.

Aldi has pledged to boost the amount of store space dedicated to fresh produce and promote discounted fruit and vegetable lines, Iceland will increase promotions and deals, Lidl will rebrand its entire range to make it more appealing to children and Subway will launch a new campaign fronted by athletes Louis Smith and Anthony Ogogo for low-fat and salad options.

Others who have signed up to the pledge include Co-operative Food, Morrisons, Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury's, Tesco, Waitrose, General Mills, Mars and the British Frozen Food Federation.

The move comes as a YouGov survey of more than 2,000 people for Sainsbury's revealed that 23% of Britons think chips count as vegetables, while almost half think the same of roast potatoes.

Just over one-third said they did not have time to eat the recommended amount and a fifth said fruit and vegetables were too expensive.

However, British Retail Consortium food director Andrew Opie disagrees.

He said retailers recognised how important it was to use innovative products, prominent promotions and competitive pricing to encourage people to eat more fruit and vegetables.

"I hope this public commitment nails the myth that eating healthily is expensive. Customers have never had better access to affordable fresh food," he said.