According to a report in the Sunday Telegraph, The School Fruit & Vegetable Scheme (SFVS) is under review after an independent report found that the initiative has failed to improve pupils' diets.
FPJ revealed exclusively last year that the government was considering scrapping the scheme. Any negative views will now have been backed up by a leaked evaluation of the £77 million SFVS that allegedly concludes it has had "no lasting impact" on childrens’ dietary habits. Just as damagingly to the long-term aspirations of the scheme, it discovered that youngsters receiving free fruit and vegetables at school are less likely to consume them at home.
The study was carried out by the National Foundation for Educational Research and the University of Leeds. They monitored changes in consumption, the intake of nutrients and attitudes to healthy eating in children before and after they became involved in the project.
Pupils consumed, on average, 3.73 portions of fruit and vegetables while on the scheme - 0.37 of a portion more than before the scheme was launched. Only 27 per cent of pupils achieved the government's target of five portions a day. Less than a third of children were even aware of the 5 A DAY recommendation.
Critics describe the project as "hopeless" and "badly run" and accuse the government of failing to implement the necessary educational backing to make the programme work.
SFVS supporters have already dimsissed the Telegraph report to freshinfo as "inaccurate" and "scurrilous", but Professor Fergus Lowe, the director of the Food and Activity Research Unit at the University of Bangor, a government adviser on food policy and long a critic of the scheme, said: "The scheme is hopeless and every bit of the research shows this.
"There needs to be more of a focus in schools on actually changing children's behaviour and food preferences. Just giving them all a piece of fruit is a costly but clearly ineffective intervention,” he added.
Martin Caraher, of the Centre for Food Policy at City University in London, said: "The whole thing has been badly run and is clearly going wrong," he said. "It would be more effective to provide affordable fruit and vegetables to older children too, rather than just restricting it to free items for the younger ones. It is both astounding and disturbing that so many children do not even know about the recommended daily intake of fruit and vegetables, which shows that we need more food education in schools if children are to learn about their benefits."
The Department of Health defended the SFVS but confirmed it is under review. "The SFVS has been successful in encouraging children to eat more fruit and vegetables," said a spokeswoman. "Since its launch a number of other major initiatives have been developed to improve food in our schools. We have decided, therefore, to review the current arrangements and identify opportunities to integrate this stand-alone scheme more closely with the other school food initiatives."
The Tories, not surprisingly, dived in to criticise: Tim Loughton, the shadow minister for children, told the newspaper: "This is another example of an expensive, high-profile policy initiative which looks like it is about to be axed because it was ill thought through and has apparently not worked."
He called for policies to enthuse "children into taking healthy options, rather than dangling a few gimmicks" in front of them.
More to come...
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