1 in 3 Americans Say They Were Never Educated on Healthy Eating Habits

WALNUT CREEK, Calif., Jan. 30, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Del Monte Foods, Inc. today released the 2020 State of Healthy Eating in America Study, revealing that one in three Americans confess they were never taught about nutrition, contributing to confusion around what it means to eat healthy. The study also revealed that while 70% of Americans say that when they eat a healthy diet they feel like "the best version of themselves," 32% of millennials feel a "significant amount of social pressure and anxiety" around what they eat.

What's clear from the study is that as we enter a new decade, Americans have complex feelings towards healthy eating. While 86% of Americans say that eating fruits and vegetables is crucial to maintaining a healthy diet, trying to eat well remains a large stress factor (49%) for all generations. This stress can perhaps be attributed to a variety of notions including:

• 63% of people think they must sacrifice fun to eat healthy
• 30% think they'd have to reduce restaurant outings to afford healthier food
• One in five Americans think they'd have to give up entertainment subscriptions (Netflix, Spotify, etc.) to maintain a healthy diet

As one of the original plant-based companies, Del Monte Foods has always stood by its mission in making fruits and vegetables attainable and affordable to everyone. Coming off a recent partnership announcement with nonprofit GrowingGreat – a natural alliance which expands the leading food brand's Growers of Good™ initiative – Del Monte Foods has increased its effort to bring hands-on nutrition education to elementary and middle school children nationwide to help empower a generation of healthy eaters for the future and close the gap. Specially, programming will be available at Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University in Philadelphia, Marbles Kids Museum in Raleigh, Saint Louis Science Center, Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh, Detroit Zoo, the Discovery Center in Murfreesboro/Nashville, Oregon Museum of Science and Industry in Portland and Discovery Place Kids in Huntersville/Charlotte. These programs will help address an important concern among parents as 50% worry that that if their children don't get fruits and vegetables, they will not achieve their full potential in life.

"As a long-time believer in the mission of providing satisfying and nutritious products, Del Monte Foods has made it a priority to educate people on healthy eating habits," said Bibie Wu, Chief Marketing Officer, Del Monte Foods. "We've been innovating products that are delicious and provide the necessary nutrients to live a healthy lifestyle, providing more options to create future generations of healthy eaters."

The study also found that 78% of people think fresh food is healthy and only 13% of people consider packaged food to be healthy. But, according to the Produce for Better Health Foundation, at least five servings of fruits and vegetables are encouraged daily, including all forms of fruits and vegetables – fresh, frozen, canned, dried and 100% juice – which offer generally consistent nutritional benefits that can improve health and overall diet quality. Greater education around healthy choices can help further alleviate stress around eating as 58% of Americans said they find it more difficult to keep fresh food in their home and one in three believed it to a waste of money because it goes bad so quickly; alternatives can help Americans get the nutritional benefits they need more easily.

"A lot of nutrition misinformation exists around the topic of healthy eating, and people can easily feel overwhelmed and confused," said Sally Kuzemchak, RD. "But healthy eating doesn't need to be complicated and should be accessible to all. Del Monte is a trusted brand that has long made eating fruits and vegetables both easy and affordable."

Del Monte Foods has been a leader in providing accessible nutrition through the goodness of its fruit and vegetable products for over 130 years. The company is committed to helping improve health and wellness for consumers and seeks to accomplish this through partnerships, consumer education and product innovation in the frozen and refrigerated aisles including new Veggieful™ Bites, Veggieful™ Bowls and Fruit Crunch Parfait™. Visit www.delmontefoods.com to learn more about its products, history and mission.

About Del Monte Foods, Inc.
Del Monte Foods, Inc. is one of the largest producers, distributors and marketers of premium quality, branded food products for the U.S. retail market. Our brands include Del Monte®, Contadina®, College Inn®, and S&W®.

Del Monte Foods has a legacy of innovation and providing accessible nutrition to the American public, making it an iconic brand for over a century. In recent years, Del Monte Foods has been innovating from within, leveraging its history as one of the original plant-based food companies, their size and structure to transform their business and expand their product portfolio. Del Monte Foods is the U.S. subsidiary of Del Monte Pacific Limited (Bloomberg: DELM SP, DELM PM) and is not affiliated with certain other Del Monte companies around the world, including Fresh Del Monte Produce Inc., Del Monte Canada, or Del Monte Asia Pte. Ltd. For more information on Del Monte Foods, visit www.delmontefoods.com.

About GrowingGreat
GrowingGreat is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization whose mission is to empower children to make healthy food choices through hands-on science and garden education. As a pioneer in school gardens in Los Angeles since 1999, GrowingGreat has reached hundreds of thousands of children and their families with hands-on nutrition, garden, STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) and literacy education. GrowingGreat is committed to families in cement-covered cities where a school garden may be a child's only experience with living, growing things.

Methodology
The Del Monte Foods' 2020 State of Healthy Eating in America Study was a fifteen-minute online study among a nationally representative sample of 18+ general population consumers (n=1,000) in the United States, commissioned by Del Monte Foods, Inc. Data was collected October 28 – November 8, 2019.

MEDIA CONTACT
Erin Farkaly
Edelman
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973-715-6716

SOURCE Del Monte Foods