The Fresh Street Community fruit and vegetable research and pilot scheme ran in Whitleigh between January and September 2024.
What was Fresh Street Community?
This was a research and pilot study run by the University of Reading and University of Plymouth as part of the FoodSEqual, Food systems Equality Project. FoodSEqual is a 5-year project which is working with local communities and food industry partners to improve the food system. See here for more information about the FoodSEqual project.
How did it work?
Project participants were issued £10 worth of Fresh Street vouchers on a fortnightly basis which could be redeemed every two weeks for fresh fruit and vegetables by following the steps below:
Step1: The Fresh Street community research team were at the Salvation Army Hall (Lancaster Gardens, PL5 4AA) on Tuesdays fortnightly between 10am and 12pm where participants could redeem vouchers and place orders for £5 bags of fresh seasonal fruit and vegetables from Tamar Fresh.
Step 2: The Fresh Street team distributed the bags of fruit and vegetables from Salvation Army Hall on Thursdays fortnightly between 10am and 12pm.
We also provided a social space, where people could stop for free refreshments and take part in activities and conversations about fruit and vegetables.
We were also delighted to have a stall at Whitleigh Big Local’s monthly community market on Whitleigh Green. This enabled the team to get even more fresh fruit and vegetables to people in Whitleigh! https://foodplymouth.org/fresh-street-and-tamar-fresh-at-whitleigh-community-market/
What is the aim of Fresh Street Community?
The aim of the Fresh Street Community is for everyone regardless of where they live to be able to get good quality, fresh fruit and vegetables.
During the 10 month scheme we wanted to:
Have a closer look at the Fresh Street journey. This presentation outlines the scheme, how we delivered it and what we learned. Fresh Street Presentation
Who took part in the scheme?
300 households in Whitleigh were invited to take part in the scheme, regardless of their income, type or number of people living there.
These 300 households fell into two groups. The Community Research Team worked with everyone in the study, individuals and families, to offer activities and learning about fruit and vegetables at events held every fortnight at the Salvation Army Hall. 150 of these households were able to place orders for fresh fruit and vegetables with the Community Research Team.
The other 150 households were invited to take part in the community activities and receive a Fresh Street Community voucher worth £10 every two weeks, which was used to order fruit and vegetables from the Fresh Street supplier.
The aim of this was compare differences between the group who took part in the cooking, learning and tasting activities and the group who took part in these activities and who also received the vouchers.
HERE IS AN EXAMPLE OF A £5 BAG OF FRUIT AND VEGETABLES FROM TAMAR FRESH.
How did we know that Fresh Street was effective?
We endeavoured to speak to someone from every household in the study to ask about their fruit and vegetable consumption. We did this at the beginning, and the end of the study.
We also conducted other studies to find out more about what people are eating in Whitleigh more generally; using a Food and Wellbeing Chat and by collecting Biomarker samples.
Determined dietary intake using a short structured ‘food chat’ approach (adapted from previous validated sources)
Assessed wellbeing using established and validated sources
Assessed diet affordability using an established approach
Collected nutritional and metabolomic biomarker samples (e.g. spot urine and hair) to validate dietary assessment methods
What are we doing now the research and pilot study has ended?
The FoodSEqual Community Food Research team have been selling affordable fresh, seasonal fruit and vegetables at our pop up stall every Thursday fortnight at Salvation Army Hall, between November 2025 and February 2025. Starting in April, our fresh fruit and vegetable stall returns to Whitleigh Community Market, until October 2025.
First Saturday of every month 10AM to 1PM.
I still have some questions – who can I ask?
You can contact Dr Clare Pettinger and the team:
foodsequalhealth@plymouth.ac.uk
