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*The European Parliament has voted in support of an EU-wide School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme, which urges an expansion in the EU programme for distributing fruit and vegetables in schools. *
The aim is to encourage healthier eating habits in children and combat the obesity epidemic. MEPs would like to see more funding for the programme and they also suggest giving priority to local seasonal produce. The <1> was adopted with 586 votes in favour, 47 against and 41 abstentions.
The European Commission has proposed a budget of €90m for this programme for the school year 2009-2010. This budget is not enough, argue MEPs: it is equivalent to giving every child aged 6 to 10 one piece of fruit a week for 30 weeks. The scheme should consist of a portion of fruit per pupil per day and not only be aimed at school children aged six to ten years, as the Commission proposes.
Niels Busk said: "The best thing would be for every child to have a piece of fruit every day and that means more money from the Community budget. The majority of the Agriculture committee agreed on a number of €500m and National co-funding.
"I don't necessarily agree with that, I hope we can correct it in the vote. On behalf of my group I have proposed that €350m should be set aside plus contributions from the Member states, that would give you a lot more than a total of €500m."
The report also calls for the practical arrangements for the programme to be clarified. MEPs say it should cover only fresh fruit and vegetables produced within the EU and not processed fruit and vegetable products.
In response to this last requirements OIETFL, the European Association of the EU's fruit and vegetable processisng industries representing the interest of the manufacturers of canned, frozen and dehydrated vegetables, claimed that it was incorrect to to state that processed fruit and vegetable products are of lesser nutritional value.
OIETFL President Mr. Garcia Gomez commented on the scheme: "The key point is to provide the Member States with sufficient flexibility to let them decide how best to implement schemes at a national or even regional level, taking into account diverging national nutritional recommendations and cultural habits."