Top of the charts: best-selling fresh food

The Produce Plus-Nielsen top 20 products for 2020 have been announced. Each year, the Produce Plus-Nielsen Top 20 identifies the best-selling fresh food. It measures fruit and vegetable products most commonly bought by Australian households for take-home consumption. The products are ranked by their share of total take-home fresh fruit and vegetable dollar sales using Nielsen’s Homescan consumer panel. So who came in first?

Best-selling fresh food for 2020

Bananas have remained at the head of the pack (or bunch) for the second year in a row, with 92 percent of Nielsen Homescan buying households putting them in their basket. Value for money and a consistent supply helped the banana hold onto its crown for 2020.

Stockpiling and panic buying had an impact on this year’s rankings, leading to increased sales of longer-lasting fruit and vegetables. Product prices have also been higher in the past year, due to COVID-19 and the effects of bushfires and drought, which means that fresh produce was costing Aussie families more on average.

While longer-lasting fresh produce such as carrots (coming in at number 16) and potatoes (at number 5) were up in the rankings, fresh salad was a stand-out performer in this year’s top 20, gaining two places in the rankings with an extra 10.8 percent of salad taken home.

Two new entries to the top 20 this year were pumpkins (in 20th place) and melons (at seventh place). This saw oranges and herbs drop out of the list.

Produce Plus-Nielsen best-selling fresh food products 2020:

1. Bananas
2. Tomatoes
3. Fresh salad
4. Apples
5. Potatoes
6. Avocados
7. Strawberries
8. Mushrooms
9. Grapes
10. Cucumbers
11. Blueberries
12. Broccoli/broccolini
13. Capsicum
14. Onions
15. Lettuce
16. Carrots
17. Melons
18. Mandarins
19. Sweet potatoes
20. Pumpkins