Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-xbtfd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T13:17:48.732Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Overview of the market and consumption of puises in Europe

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 March 2007

Anne V. C. Schneider
Anne V. C. Schneider*
Affiliation:
AEP, European Association for Grain Legume Research, Executive Secretariat, 12 Avenue George V, 75008 Paris, France
*
*Corresponding author: Anne V. C. Schneider, tel +33 1 4069 4909, fax +33 1 4723 5872, email a.schneider-aep@ prolea.com
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

The human consumption of grain legumes and pulses in Europe and the EU is lower than in other regions of the world. However, there is a lot of variation between countries and an overall slight increase has been observed in recent years. The major trends in the EU pulse market are illustrated here with a specific focus on Spain, France and the UK, which account for about 60% of the EU pulse consumption. The ways in which pulses are consumed are very different in the various EU countries, due to different regional food habits and traditions, and to differences in the supplies of grain legumes and the markets. Canned products dominate pulse sales compared with dry pulses sold in packets. Dry beans are the most consumed of the pulses in the EU, but the preference between species varies according to country. The factors limiting the consumption of pulses in the EU are mainly: an inadequate level of innovation for developing products adapted to modern life, a small home supply of pulses and competition from cheaper low-quality imports. Recently, however, consumers are favouring healthy and balanced vegetable diets. Pulses have significant nutritional and health advantages for consumers and their cultivation has a positive impact on agriculture and the environment. Therefore the trend in the consumption of pulses could change, especially if publicity about the benefits of pulses is improved and if the food industry and professional organizations take up the challenge to incorporate grain legumes in novel, convenient and healthy food products.

Keywords

Grain legumesPulsesHuman consumptionMarketEuropean UnionConsumer
Type
Research Article
Information
British Journal of Nutrition , Volume 88 , Issue S3 , December 2002 , pp. 243 - 250
Copyright
Copyright © The Nutrition Society 2002

References

AEP (2002) Statistics and economics. World production. Main grain legume producing countries in 2001. http://www.grainlegumes.comGoogle Scholar
Anderson, JW & Ward, AK (2002) Pulses and lipemia: short-and long-term effects: A potential in the prevention of cardiovascular disease. British Journal of Nutrition 88, Suppl. 3, S263–S271.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Carnovale, E (1999) Chickpea in the European diet. Grain Legumes 25, 14–17.Google Scholar
Champ, MMJ (2001) Benefits of pulses in human diet. In Proceedings of the 4th European Conference on Grain Legumes, Cracow, Poland, July 2001, pp. 109–113 [AEP, , editors]. Paris: AEP.Google Scholar
Champ, MMJ (2002) Non-nutrient bioactive substances of pulses. British Journal of Nutrition 88, Suppl. 3, S307–S318.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Champ, MMJ & Muzquiz, M (2001) Phaseolus beans: pros and cons for the consumer. Grain Legumes 31, 20–21.Google Scholar
Food and Agriculture Organization (2001) FAOSTAT Data Base. http://www.fao.org/Google Scholar
Frokiaer, H, Barkholt, V & Bagger, CL (2001) Processing: impacts on seed nutritive value - scientific, technical and economic aspects. In Proceedings of the 4th European Conference on Grain Legumes, Cracow, Poland, July 2001, pp. 127–131 [AEP, editors]. Paris: AEP.Google Scholar
Kokkolis, C (2000) LINK Food Survey Report. Reading: University of Reading and PGRO.Google Scholar
Mariotti, F, Tomé, D & Mahé, S (2001) The nutritional value of uniformly 15N labelled pea, lupin or soy proteins assessed from real ileal digestibility and postprandial utilisation in humans. In Proceedings of the 4th European Conference on Grain Legumes, Cracow, Poland, July 2001, pp. 118–119 [AEP, editors]. Paris: AEP.Google Scholar
Mathers, JC (2002) Pulses and carcinogenesis: potential for the prevention of colon, breast and other cancers. British Journal of Nutrition 88, Suppl. 3, S273–S279.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Messina, MJ (1999) Legumes and soybeans: overview of their nutritional profiles and health effects. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 70, 439S–450S.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Muzquiz, M (1997) Spanish legumes and the Mediterranean diet. Grain Legumes 17, 22–23.Google Scholar
Schneider, A & Lacampagne, J-P (1999) The European chickpea market: how to overcome a dependency on importers. Grain Legumes 25, 11–13.Google Scholar
Spanish Ministry of Agriculture (2001) In Consumption in Spain. Madrid: Sub-Secretariat of the General Direction of Food, Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.Google Scholar
UNIP [Editors] (2001) Statistics - Plants rich in proteins. Paris: UNIP.Google Scholar
UNIP-ONIOL survey (2000) Analysis of the French market of pulses - Final report [AND, editors]. Paris: AND.Google Scholar