Brussels, 07/10/2008 (Agence Europe) -The European Commission's proposal on the programme for the distribution of fruit and vegetables in schools does not go far enough. This was the conclusion of the vote in the committee on agriculture of the European Parliament, held on Tuesday 7 October, on the report by Niels Busk (ALDE, Denmark) on the future European programme designed to encourage children to adopt healthier eating habits and thus to help in the fight against obesity. The members of this committee (this is a consultation procedure) would like, amongst other things, higher budgetary resources and to prioritise fresh products of Community origin. Certain amendments voted through, particularly on the origin of the products or how the European programme will work together with similar initiatives already launched in certain countries, added to the comments made by the European agriculture ministers (EUROPE 9752). The European Parliament will adopt its opinion on this programme in November.
Nearly 22 million children in the European Union are overweight and nearly 5 million suffer from obesity, largely due to excessive consumption of fatty foods, both sweet and savoury.
Increase in resources. The European Commission proposed to allocate €90 million to this programme for the school year 2009/2010. In the view of the MEPs, this budget, which works out at sufficient to give one piece of fruit per week to each child aged from six to 10 years for 30 weeks of the year, is not enough. As unanimously adopted after amendment, Niels Busk's report calls for the Community contribution to be raised to €500 million for 2009/2010. Furthermore, the MEPs do not believe that the programme should be limited to children attending school between the ages of six and 10 and that it should be extended to include pre-school institutions as well.
Priority to fresh products of Community origin. According to the committee on agriculture, the programme should concentrate solely on fruit and vegetables of Community origin. Furthermore, priority should be given to fresh products, as processed products are of lesser nutritional value. In addition, the amendments recommend fruit and vegetables which: - respect the most exacting quality criteria; - are in season, preferably; - are produced locally; - come from sustainable channels. The products should be selected by the European Commission and the member states on the basis of their health benefits. The MEPs also called for their distribution to be accompanied by health and dietary advice adapted for children, and information on organic produce. Lastly, they call for this programme to be run in addition to any initiatives which may already be on stream, and for it to allow any funds unused to be transferred to other member states. (L.C./trans.fl)