Reaction to the announcement of a further £77 million governemnt commitment to the nationwide roll-out of the National School Fruit Scheme (NSFS) has been mixed. Some sections of the industry question the direction in which the money is being channelled.
Health secretary John Reid said 1million children are receiving free fruit at school every day through the scheme, adding that it typifies his vision for improving the nation's health - encouraging and educating people about healthy choices and ensuring the government tackles the causes as well as the consequences of ill-health.
"We said that every child aged four to six years old would be entitled to a free piece of fruit each school day, and this new funding will deliver on this commitment."
The funding breakdown to extend the NSFS across the whole of England is £33.5m in 2004-05 and £43.5m in 2005-06. Since April 2002, the scheme has operated in four pilot regions with £42 million in National Lottery good cause funding from the New Opportunities Fund.
The distribution of a piece of fruit a day to all four to six year-old children in state schools in England will see around 440m pieces of fruit a year go to over 2m children in 18,000 schools.
Doug Henderson, chief executive of the Fresh Produce Consortium, responded: "FPC is delighted that the National School Fruit Scheme has successfully passed the 1m milestone. All credit to the officials at the Department of Health as well as the participating companies who have made this possible. The additional £77m will underpin confidence in the future of the scheme as well as the FPC's forecast of market growth due to the scheme."
Steve Harrison, business development director at Redbridge Holdings, the largest distributor of fruit through the NSFS, added: "We have seen first-hand the benefits that daily fresh fruit can bring to children and their families ? in terms of improved health, and simple food enjoyment. With obesity levels on the rise, it is important to educate and interest children in eating healthily, and Redbridge is pleased to play a part in that process."
The minister also published a survey showing youngsters who regularly eat fruit at school consume more fruit outside school hours. More than a quarter of children and their families ate more fruit at home after their school joined the scheme.
While that news is good, it could have been better had funds been spent differently, said Henderson. "The implementation of the Bangor Project would have increased that figure from 25 per cent to 80 per cent. In terms of return for your money let alone the impact on health and the horticultural industry, the implementation of the Bangor Project is the single biggest issue we face. With an additional £77m on top of the existing £42m cash is certainly no longer a constraint."
Professor Fergus Lowe, the leader of the Bangor Project, agreed: "The key issues are first how much real change in dietary habits is achieved by this scheme - a matter that can really only be established by hard evidence such as actual consumption levels; in the context of the NSFS, what parents or children say in response to a survey may be unreliable as evidence. And second, whether it is the case that consumption levels could be greatly increased were a programme such as ours introduced.
"The Bangor Project cost relatively little to implement, but the hard evidence clearly shows that it produces the major changes in children's consumption of fruit and vegetables that we all wish to see."
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