The School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme (SFVS) has come under attack in a new report, which claims that there has been little positive impact on children’s health.
A survey of 3,703 youngsters between the ages of four and six in the north of England, who were given free fruit between February and December 2004, suggested that by the end of the period, their diet was unchanged.
The study, which was published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, saw tick-box questionnaires filled in by parents. It revealed that while the childrens’ fruit and vegetable consumption had increased by half a portion a day after three months, by the time they had moved up another school year and out of the eligibility age for the scheme, any benefits had disappeared.
The Department of Health, which administers the £42 million scheme, responded that the study was based on the early days of the scheme, and that it would soon be publishing a ‘more comprehensive evaluation’ of its own.
One of the study’s authors, Janet Cade at the Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatic at Leeds University, said that older children only received free fruit for four or five months, which may not have been long enough to help alter their eating habits.
A narrow selection of produce on offer has also been blamed for leading to children becoming bored of the options.
Researchers suggested said that fruit and vegetables need to become a normal part of a child’s intake in school meals, packed lunches and at home.
Other critics of the scheme have said that a better option would be to implement the ‘Food Dudes’ initiative, devised following research at the University of Wales in Bangor, which has proved highly successful in Ireland.
Food Dudes includes a system of ‘rewards’ to encourage young children to eat fresh produce, with the rewards being phased out as they learn to enjoy their new diets.
One advocate of Food Dudes, English Apples and Pears chief executive Adrian Barlow, said: “I’ve always been concerned that simply making fruit and veg available will not change behaviour. Just trying to persuade kids to eat healthily will have some effect but really it needs much more than that.
“Food Dudes has demonstrated to have a remarkable effect not just on kids but on their families. I really want to see the Bangor project implemented in every school at a wide range of age groups.”
The new study comes on the back of a period of criticism for school nutrition. Only last week a 20 percent fall in school meal take-up was reported, leading to calls for more local produce to be included in menus.
Those calls have been echoed by a number of producers. Grower Guy Poskitt, whose firm supplies produce for school meals, told Commercial Grower that the whole system of ordering fruit and vegetables through schools needs a radical overhaul. “The basic ordering system for purchasing is horrendous. We need to get the dinner ladies or the people ordering food to get into a different regime of buying. They are still using a phenomenal amount of imported produce.”
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