Worldwide Fruit has the apple and pear supply contract for the School Fruit & Vegetable Scheme (SFVS) for the north east, south east and London regions of England. In a year such as this one, when sizing has become a big issue - particularly on Cox - sourcing the correct amount of small fruit is of paramount importance.
The wet and mild summer has provided growing conditions that offer high yields, but limit the marketability of fruit. A high proportion of Cox, for instance, will fall in the 75mm plus bracket, which is outside the generally desired supermarkets specs, let alone the school scheme requirements. “The SFVS has to be a centre of focus for us, it is absolutely critical to the long-term future of fruit consumption in this country,” says WWF’s Steve Maxwell, pictured. “It is also a very good way of maximising the crop - the scheme requests that we use 55mm fruit, which falls outside the parameters of most customer requirements.
“There are 740,000 schoolchildren in the regions we supply at the moment - that is around a third of the total in England in that age group. We supply two varieties at a time into the scheme, both imported and English, but throughout the English production season we will have two English varieties going in. It might be Cox and Gala, or it could be Cox and Spartan; we mix it up according to availability, obviously, but also to enable children to get used to the distinctive tastes of different varieties and build their awareness of the types of apples that exist.
Getting them to eat apples at an early age cannot be a bad thing and we are trying to work together with the government and its partners in the SFVS to find ways to be more interactive with the kids. We find that a lot of teachers and classroom assistants are very up for it and we receive a lot of good feedback. Adrian Barlow at English Apples & Pears is developing some educational materials and we fully support that.”
Within the fresh produce industry there have been murmurings about the SFVS, mainly surrounding the fact that it appears to directly benefit the lucky few and participation is not as encouraged by the organisers as it could be. Maxwell doesn’t agree. “This is about as joined-up as it gets for the government,” he says. “It fits right into the health of the nation strategic objectives. Healthy products going to children from English farms. I do think there is a lot more scope for them to make more of it, by giving out the right messages about the health benefits, letting everyone know that there is no danger to their well-being, despite some of the things they may read about MRL exceedences in the national media.
“Making people eat more fruit from an early age is the second best way to reduce future government spend on cancer related disease in the National Health Service.
“That the scheme will continue is a no-brainer. But from our point of view, if the scheme only continues for the next three years, say, then what’s the problem with that. Every day that it continues is another day when children who would not previously have been eating fruit are given free access to our products. This is extra fruit these kids are getting, not replacement.”
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