What does ‘overlooked’ Gen Z want from healthy food?
What does Generation Z – currently aged between 18-24 years – want from a healthy food system?
EIT Food, part of EU body the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), has commissioned a survey of over 2,000 Europeans born between 1995/96 and 2009/10 to find out.
Why focus on Gen Z?
The European Commission’s Farm to Fork strategy acknowledges that transitioning to a better food system will not happen without a shift in people’s diets.
But in order for the younger generations to become actively engaged with the transformation of the food system – rather than remain ‘passive’ and ‘often reluctant followers’ – they need opportunities for collaboration, according to Saskia Nuitjen, Director of Communications and Public Engagement at EIT Food.
“This needs to be with not only industry and other players involved in food production, but also in the design of new solutions to improve the food system,” she told FoodNavigator.
“Moreover, through their behaviour and choices, young consumers are key for the uptake of new solutions, products, services and business models – and even policies – which will need to become mainstream in the food system.”
Ultimately, Nuitjen argues that to realise the ‘ambitious targets’ of the Farm to Fork strategy, policymakers, businesses and academics must focus on the needs of young consumers, their motivations and barriers to change, as well as how innovation can support them in becoming ‘active changemakers’.
“Having an understanding of what young people want will give the agri-food industry the