Public health minister Caroline Flint has welcomed the results of the School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme evaluation, released last week.
The research demonstrated the positive impact the scheme is having on fruit and vegetable consumption in schools, and highlighted areas where further work is needed.
The minister told the Journal: “This evaluation provides valuable information on the impact of the scheme in the short term.
“Since this evaluation was undertaken the scheme has expanded enormously, reaching nearly two million children in more than 16,000 schools. In some areas it has encouraged local initiatives to provide fruit and vegetables to other age groups. However, our challenge is to ensure that when children leave the scheme they, and their parents, continue to understand the importance of eating healthily.
"This is why work is under way to improve school meals supported by tough new minimum nutrition standards, £235m new investment, and an independent School Food Trust. Earlier this year we introduced the Food in Schools Toolkit providing support and guidance to schools in taking a 'whole school approach' to healthy eating and drinking.
“It includes a range of resources on breakfast clubs, break times, lunch times through to after school cookery and growing clubs. Work is ongoing to extend the toolkit to parents.
“We know more work needs to be done to continue raising awareness of the importance of healthy eating, but changing behaviours can take time. Taken together, all of these actions will instill the importance of healthy eating in children and their families.”
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