Background: Canned and frozen fruit and vegetables (F&V) are practical, affordable, and nutritionally comparable alternatives to fresh produce when minimally processed and free from added salt, sugar, and fat. Despite their potential to improve access to nutrient-dense foods, consumption remains relatively low. Existing research has largely focused on affordability and nutritional equivalence, with less attention given to consumers’ unprompted perceptions of canned and frozen F&V.
Evidence from the literature demonstrates comparable nutrient profiles across fresh, canned, and frozen formats, including vitamin C, folate, beta-carotene, and antioxidants. 1 These findings inform a community-based health-promotion approach designed to improve awareness, acceptance, and use of affordable F&V options.
Health Promotion Strategy: Social media, including short-form Reels, will be used as an advocacy and communication strategy to promote practical ways of incorporating canned and frozen F&V into nutritious meals. The initiative engages community stakeholders and uses accessible digital communication to challenge perceptions, increase awareness, and support food choices within the context of food insecurity. Communication strategies will be informed by audience characteristics and evaluated using measures of reach, engagement, and response.
Implications: The project demonstrates how evidence can be translated into coordinated community-level health promotion by combining qualitative consumer insights, stakeholder engagement, digital advocacy, and practical food-based activities. Promoting canned and frozen F&V may provide a feasible strategy to support access to nutritious foods while addressing affordability, convenience, and food insecurity. The approach also demonstrates the application of health-promotion competencies in advocacy, communication, stakeholder engagement, digital media, and evaluation.
1 Dudley L.M., Saluja S., Stevenson R.J., Francis H.M., Case T.I. (2025)
Food Quality and Preference, 129 , art. no. 105517