Brussels, 16/04/2015 (Agence Europe) - The EU and its member states must invest more effort and money in promoting healthy eating and the consumption of local foodstuffs amongst children, said the European Parliament's agriculture committee on Tuesday 14 April when it amended draft rules on schemes to provide fruit, vegetables and milk in schools.
“A healthy and balanced diet is the foundation of good health and yet the consumption of fruit, vegetables and milk has been declining across the EU with many negative consequences for Europeans. The aim of the new rules is to do more in our schools - not only to provide our children with healthy foodstuffs, but to better educate them about healthy eating habits”, said Marc Tarabella (S&D, Belgium), who drafted the committee report on this issue that was adopted by the wide majority of 32 votes to 6, with 7 abstentions.
The agriculture committee endorsed plans to merge two schemes which are currently separate - one providing milk for schoolchildren and the other fruit and vegetables - and to extend the educational measures already included in the fruit scheme to cover milk as well.
With its adoption of the amendments, the committee also seeks: - to extend the list of foodstuffs eligible for EU funding to include local milk products with proven beneficial effects for children's health, such as yoghurt, cheese and curd (provided they are not flavoured and do not contain added fruits, nuts or cocoa); - to require member states to earmark 10-20% of the EU funding they receive to educational activities, designed for example to promote healthy eating habits and sustainable production, and including visits to farms and the occasional distribution of local specialities such as processed fruit and vegetables(unless they contain added sugar, fat, salt or sweeteners), honey, olives or dried fruits; - an additional €20 million a year for the measures covering milk, bringing annual funding for milk and milk products up to €100 million, with €150 million for fruit and vegetables; - a fairer distribution of EU funds among member countries, by setting two core criteria for the entire scheme (the proportion of six to ten-year-old children in the population and the degree of development of the region within the member state). For milk, the historical use of milk-scheme funds should also be taken into account for the first six years of the scheme and should be balanced with a new, minimum annual amount of EU aid per child.
Next steps. The Parliament will scrutinise the amendments to the draft law approved by the agriculture committee during the 27 May plenary session in Brussels.
The school milk scheme was set up in 1977, while the school fruit scheme was introduced in 2007 and included an educational dimension. All 28 member states participate in the school milk scheme and 25 implement the school fruit scheme (all except the United Kingdom, Finland and Sweden). Over 20 million children are overweight and adolescents on average consume only 30% to 50% of the recommended daily intake of fruit and vegetables. (Lionel Changeur)