By Charlotte Shipman
For those who struggle to get their five-plus a day of fruit and vegetables, a new range of bagged super veggies grown from superior seeds is about to go on sale.
The product has been devised by scientists, but there are concerns all that science may make Kiwis believe they can't create healthy meals themselves.
From next month supermarket shelves will be offering the new kind of vegetable.
They're called "vital vegetables", and Government-owned Plant and Food Research boasts they'll help consumers' bones, hearts, sight and immunity.
“It's something that has to be regularly consumed,” says head researcher Jocelyn Eason. “You can't just take one. It's not a magic pill. So keep eating it.”
The five products include a mixture of salad greens and a vegetable mix, all containing vegetables grown from specially selected seeds that have a high content of nutrients like vitamin C, vitamin K and vitamin A.
Ten years and millions of dollars have gone into the research. Each bag's expected to cost just less than $5.
“What do you value and what are you going to pay a premium for?” asks Ms Eason. “For me, I have three busy kids. I could buy individual or I could just buy a bag. It probably saves half an hour and for me that's half an hour well spent.”
But naturopath Jane Kirtley says that so-called convenience puts healthy food on a pedestal, out of reach of those who may need it most.
“I wonder if this might be putting people off, making it look too complicated, too hard or too expensive,” she says. “Really we want to get the message across that it's easy, it's simple, it's available, even on an extremely low budget. It's easy to get vegetables that will really make a huge difference to your health.”
She's also concerned some of the products contain sugar and sodium. But Ms Eason says they're only in the dressings, and the dressing is only in the pack because shoppers expect it.
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