A scheme to provide free fresh fruit and vegetables to young children and mums-to-be in Devon and Cornwall got underway this week.
Caroline Flint, public health minister, launched the Healthy Start scheme, which replaces the Welfare Food Scheme, yesterday.
Pregnant women and children under the age of five in low-income families will receive vouchers which can be redeemed for milk, fresh fruit and vegetables and infant formula from local shops.
The original scheme only provided milk and infant formula, but the new system offers much more flexibility and choice, Flint said.
She said: "Poor diet has a huge impact on health. Healthy Start is all about giving children the best possible nutritional start in life.
"Ensuring a healthy diet right from the very beginning of life will set children up for a healthy future. The Welfare Food Scheme supported many families but pregnant women and parents needed greater flexibility.
"We wanted to give them more choice about what they can purchase with the vouchers to ensure that their children have a healthy, balanced diet.”
Healthy Start will be a programme throughout the UK. The Phase 1 launch is in Devon and Cornwall and it will be rolled out to the rest of the country during 2006.
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