Campaign encourages 'undercover onions' in children's meals

A campaign has been launched to encourage parents and meal preparers to boost children’s vegetable intake by including ‘hidden’ onion into everyday meals.

With research showing that 99% of Australian children aged 2–18 years are not getting the recommended daily serves of vegetables, the humble onion is being promoted as an easy win in the kitchen.

Launched by Horticulture Innovation Australia (Hort Innovation), the Australian Onions ‘Secret Serve’ campaign aims to encourage meal preparers to include onions in even more meals by inspiring them with new ways to serve the vegetable and accustom kids to its taste.

The national initiative will focus on the creative use of onions in everyday meals and will include family-friendly recipes, tips and tricks for storing and preparing onions, as well as recipe cards and in-store cooking demonstrations.

The campaign promotes onions as an antioxidant, antiviral, anti-inflammatory vegetable with high levels of biotin (vitamin H), manganese, vitamin B6, vitamin C and fibre, which can boost the immune system and help to maintain good gut and heart health.

As part of the campaign rollout, the onion industry has partnered with the mushroom industry to bring in-store cooking demonstrations to over 450 Woolworths, Coles and independent supermarket and greengrocer stores across Australia.