EU to boost school fruit and veg diet

The European Commission is offering €103m a year to boost the school diet of fruit and vegetables – as long as EU governments put in the same amount.

The plan, similar to the long-running EU dairy scheme which subsidises the cost of school milk, follows growing concern about health and obesity.

In January this year the Commission announced a 60% EU budget contribution towards national advertising campaigns encouraging youngsters to eat more fruit and vegetables.

More than £5m was also announced to help pay for distribution of fruit and veg to schools, hospitals and charities.

Then last week Brussels launched a six-year €383m EU health programme, warning that tackling the obesity “epidemic” – particularly among children – is now urgent.

Now ministers meeting next week are being asked to back the new fruit and veg programme for schools – but it will only go ahead if they agree to match the euro-funding pound for pound.

Agriculture Commissioner Marianne Fischer Boel is pushing for agreement on a €103m a year programme – a scale of spending she thinks will have a real impact on efforts to switch children to a healthier school diet.

But some ministers may vote for a smaller-scale scheme to limit the amount national authorities would have to find.

“We hope they will go for the full scheme,” said a Commission spokesman. “We have the money in the farm kitty and governments do not have to take up the offer even if they do approve this new schools budget for fruit and veg: only those taking advantage of some of the available EU cash would be expected to provide matching funding from national coffers.”

The spokesman added: “This is not a scheme to off-load unwanted apples and other EU produce: authorities will get the money as part of their purchase of appropriate fruit and veg on the open market in the normal way.

“It’s a no-brainer really – we have the cash and this is a good way of using it to help national efforts to switch kids to healthy food choices.”

Most Europeans’ daily intake of fruit and veg is still below the internationally-recommended minimum according to the Commission: only Italians and Greeks currently achieve the World Health Organisation recommended average daily consumption of 400 grams.