Delegates at the two-day FPC wholesale division conference, on November 3-4, were told that December 4 is the deadline for initial applications to become a fruit-for-schools supplier to the department of health.
Doug Henderson, ceo of the FPC briefed representatives from several UK markets on the progress of the free fruit schemes in England, Scotland and Wales.
The FPC expects that the English scheme will be rolled out in its first region in April, followed by two more regions during 2002. It should be active nationwide by 2004.
Interested parties will receive a tender document and the operating standards required of them. A full application does not have to be submitted at this stage.
Henderson said the operating standards should follow the FPC's guidelines already available to wholesaler members. He added that compared to the large multiples, which are expressing high interest, wholesalers are in an ideal position to fulfil the logistical needs of the scheme. Nevertheless, supermarkets will be giving strong support to the scheme as it has implications for further sales increases.
Henderson renewed the FPC's pledge to campaign for the scheme to be expanded to include vegetables. 'We've argued consistently for the scheme to be for vegetables as well,' he said. 'The response from the department of health is that they haven't written out vegetables but they want to see this up and running successfully first.' The FPC aims to have vegetables included when the scheme is reviewed in 2004, as well as extending it to include eight to 11 year-old schoolchildren.
The FPC event was held at Wood Hall Hotel, Wetherby, West Yorkshire. Delegates included representatives from Bradford, Leicester, Nottingham, Sheffield and Western International wholesale markets and the Yorkshire Produce Centre. Agrexco, Capespan, Chep UK Ltd and World Wide Fruit, were also represented.
The weekend was sponsored by Agrexco Carmel, Foods From Spain and George Smalley.
