LAUSR

The consumption of vegetables in the EU coun tries has already exceeded 130 kg per person a year. In the Czech Republic the consumption has increased from 66 kg in the 1990s to 80 kg at present. It can be presumed that the consumption of vegetable in the Czech Republic will gradually increase and will approach the values reported in the rest of the EU. The requirements of consumers also increase and the producers try to meet them. A significant influence of vegetables on human health is being emphasized and the demand for leaf vegetables rises; it concerns mainly head, ice-berg and leaf lettuce and Chinese cabbage but also some other, less available species. The leaf lettuce has been gaining more and more popularity among consumers and occupies a stable position in the assortment of leaf vegetables. This lettuce does not form any solid heads but only a group of leaves of various shapes and colours (red, reddish, green, yellow). Owing to this composition, leaf types of lettuce should contain more fibre, min