Canada Fruit and Vegetables Market Report 2026
Household budgets continue to be under pressure, with 80% of shoppers seeking deals when purchasing fruit and vegetables.
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
- What you need to know
- Outlook for fruit and vegetables
- Opportunities
- Move beyond generic healthy positioning with benefit-led claims
- Shift from ingredient selling to meal enablement to grow baskets
- Leverage climate-controlled greenhouse messaging to support Canadian-grown
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THE MARKET
- Canadian consumers and the economic outlook
- Variations in price rises in fruit and vegetables test value perception
- Graph 1: Consumer Price Index for food and fruit/vegetables, April 2025-April 2026
- Canadian consumers are still worried about rising prices and the impact of tariffs
- Strong interest in healthy eating
- Sustainability messages need to focus on reducing waste
- Graph 2: habits considered to make the biggest contribution to sustainability, 2025
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THE CONSUMER
- Fruit and vegetables purchasing
- Fresh most widely purchased type of fruit and vegetables
- Fruit and vegetables are staple purchases
- Graph 3: types of fruits purchased in the past month, 2026
- Graph 4: types of vegetables purchased in the past month, 2026
- Fresh, loose vegetables are the top choice driven by importance of freshness
- Younger generation placing more value on convenience
- Graph 5: fruits and vegetables purchased in the past month, by generation, 2026
- Quality and provenance
- Elevate in-store produce to drive conversion and positive store perception
- Graph 6: attributes important when deciding which fruit or vegetables to purchase, 2026
- Use “Canadian grown” as a conversion and premium lever
- Standardize “Canadian-grown” cues to scale visibility and sales impact
- Leverage climate-controlled greenhouse messaging to support Canadian-grown demand
- Health and nutrition
- Nutrient/health claims increase purchase intent
- Target those aspiring to healthier diets at the point of purchase
- Fruit and vegetables can offer fibre benefits without the processing
- Move beyond generic healthy positioning with benefit-led claims
- Graph 7: benefits sought from healthy/better-for-you foods , 2026
- Actively facilitate “variety-seeking” behaviour for more functional benefits
- Elevate convenience to appeal to Gen Z
- Recipe ideas and information
- Recipe suggestions help to stimulate fruit/vegetable purchasing
- Shift from ingredient selling to meal enablement
- Use seasonality as a recipe inspiration engine
- Simplify cooking to remove friction
- Value and discounting
- Tight budgets limiting fruit and vegetable choices
- Clear case for tiered affordability architecture in fruit and vegetables
- Graph 8: “tight budgets limit my fruit and vegetable choices”, by financial situation, 2026
- Reinforce value beyond price in frozen and canned
- Reframe storage as a value proposition
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PRODUCT, INNOVATION AND MARKETING
- Vegetables take the bigger share of launch activity
- Graph 9: share of fruit and vegetables launches, by sub-category, 2021-26
- Positive nutrition claims dominated by high/added fibre
- Dip in economy launches, as premium claims increase
- Graph 10: share of fruit and vegetables launches with an economy or premium positioning, 2021-26
- Organic launches remain prominent in launch activity
- Convenience claims featured on a third of fruit and vegetables launches
- Increase in environmentally-friendly and sustainable claims
- Graph 11: share of fruit and vegetables launches with environmentally-friendly and sustainable claims, 2021-26
- Canadian greens include those grown using less water
- Canadian provenance is a prominent marketing message
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APPENDIX
- Market definition
- Fruits
- Vegetables
- The consumer
- Consumer research questions
- Consumer research methodology
- Generations
- Abbreviations
"Tight budgets are limiting fruit and vegetable choices. Smart value accessibility, meal enablement, health benefit-led claims, and Canadian-grown will support sales."
Richard Caines, Senior Analyst, Insights - Food & Drink
Household budgets continue to be under pressure, with 80% of shoppers seeking deals when purchasing fruit and vegetables. Tight budgets limit fruit and vegetables choices for 57% of fruit/vegetables purchasers. This highlights the importance of tiered price architectures, as well as emphasizing the value of frozen, canned and imperfect fresh produce. Retailers need to make affordability and value a positive narrative, shifting promotions from deep discounting to smart value accessibility.
Aside from price, freshness, appearance and taste/flavour are the attributes most important in fruit and vegetable choices. 79% of Canadians agree that fresh produce quality affects their view of a store, while 25% of fruit/vegetables purchasers are encouraged by appealing in-store displays to buy more fruit and vegetables. This highlights the importance of making the fresh fruit and vegetables shine in-store.
Canadians aspire to eat healthily, but only 32% say they eat the recommended servings of fruit and vegetables daily. Nutrient/health claims increase purchase intent. 40% of purchasers of fruit/vegetables would be more likely to buy certain fruit/vegetables if they came with nutrition information, and 41% if health benefit information was given.
This Report Looks at the Following Areas:
- Outlook for fruit and vegetables, including impact of consumer sentiment on choices
- Key trends in recent launch activity and future product development opportunities
- Purchasing of fruit and vegetables by storage type and whether loose/packaged
- Importance of quality and provenance to choice of fruit and vegetables
- Triggers for encouraging more buying, including health/nutrition information and ways to use/store
- Impact of tight budgets on choices, and implications for the retailing of fruit and vegetables
Market Definitions
For the purposes of this Report, Mintel has used the following definitions for fruits and vegetables by format.
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