Brussels, 08/03/2016 (Agence Europe) - In Strasbourg on Tuesday 8 March, the European Parliament endorsed (584 votes in favour, 94 against and 32 abstentions) the compromise text on the EU programme for distributing fruit, vegetables and milk in schools (see EUROPE 11505).
“My objective was multi-fold: to propose healthy food from an early age, to teach people about healthy eating, to fight obesity, and also to promote and value short food circuits, and local and regional products. This vote is excellent news for the health of 30 million school children who will be able to benefit from the programme, and for short food circuits”, said the rapporteur for this issue, Marc Tarabella (S&D, Belgium). The Council must still approve the new regulation, which will come into force on 1 August 2017.
The eligible products are: fruit and vegetables and fresh products from the banana sector; - drinking milk and lactose-free varieties; - processed products based on fruit and vegetables; - cheese, curd, yoghurt and other fermented or acidified milk products without added flavouring, fruit, nuts or cocoa. Under certain conditions, the countries will nevertheless be able to make eligible: fermented milk products without the addition of fruit juice; - milk-based drinks containing cocoa or fruit juice or flavoured naturally. Unless authorised by the national authorities responsible for health and food, the distributed products cannot contain sugars, salt, fats, added sweeteners or added artificial flavour enhancers.
In order to ensure the effectiveness of the programme, the member states will have to provide for educational measures to accompany it: visits to farms, distribution of a very large range of agricultural products, education for children on related subjects (healthy food habits, local food chains, organic farming, sustainable production, or the fight against food wastage). The EU budget planned for this is €250 million per year (for six years): €150 million for fruit and vegetables, and €100 million for milk. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)