Peas Please

Peas Please launched in 2017 with the mission of making it easier for everyone in the UK to eat more veg.

Peas Please was a UK-wide initiative run by project partners The Food Foundation, Nourish Scotland, Food Sense Wales, Food NI, and Belfast Food Network. The initiative brought together partners from across the food system with the common goal of increasing vegetable consumption, with a focus on low-income groups and children. The project has now ended.

It's never been more important to improve the health of the Scottish population. To do this we need to make sure that everyone has access to healthy and affordable food. Not everyone has the same access to healthy foods like vegetables. There are a variety of barriers for some, including rising food prices, a lack of healthy options and unequal access to grocery stores.  As a result, our diets are typically low in vegetables. Evidence suggests intakes of vegetables in Scotland are lower than the UK as a whole. Read the Food Foundation’s ‘Veg Facts 2021’ for more statistics on vegetable consumption in the UK.

Food Standards Scotland became official pledgers of the Peas Please initiative in 2022 as a systems influencer. Making a Peas Please pledge complements the work of Food Standards Scotland by supporting consumers to have healthier diets and empowering consumers to make positive choices about food.

We supported and promoted the Peas Please initiative in the following ways:

• had conversations about Peas Please with our stakeholders and with consumers
• helped create opportunities for direct engagement with Peas Please by signposting from our online content
• continued to promote eating more vegetables in our consumer messaging on healthy and sustainable eating
• promoted Peas Please in our guidance to businesses, as appropriate, for example, as part of the forthcoming code of practice on children’s menus
• worked with Veg Advocates to help gather evidence for future guidance, including the development of the children's menus code of practice
• general advocacy to include Peas Please within relevant advisory boards and steering group meetings, as appropriate

Find out more about the Peas Please initiative and read the most recent progress report.