The European Commission has approved another three years of funding for the Fruitness - enjoy it! campaign, aimed at promotion the consumption of fruit among children across Europe.
Superhero Mr Fruitness is back for another stint and has this time got plums on board, alongside peaches, nectarines, pears and kiwifruit.
According to the World Health Organisation, up to 22 million children in Europe are overweight and 5.1m are considered obese.
Paulo Bruni, president of Centro Servizi Ortofrutticoli (CSO), said: “A total of just over 60m tonnes of fruit is harvested [in the EU 27] per year, including produce destined for processing, with a slight yet sustained fall in production. Production for fresh consumption is close to 40mt.
“The data on European consumption is extremely patchy. Nevertheless, according to CSO estimates collated from various sources, the apparent consumption of fruit in the period 2004-08 amounted to 38.4mt, an increase of two per cent on the previous five-year period. It is clear that we need to develop new thing with regards to consumption and build objective evaluation tools to help European producers put in place effective strategies.”
CSO director Luciano Trentino added: “The continued funding of the Mr Fruitness project demonstrates that the strategy for promoting fruit to children through plan and fun, rather than by stressing the health benefits, has borne fruit…
“Our fruity superhero is entering large chain stores and smaller high-street shops in innovative ways that cannot fail to interest the retail chains of the participating countries.”
