The UK fresh produce trade has been disappointed by the launch of the EU’s latest healthy eating campaign aimed at youngsters: The Tasty Bunch.
The project got underway this week in Brussels with the departure of a roadshow on a tour of European schools community-wide to get children eating more fresh produce, taking more exercise and drinking more milk to stave off obesity.
But the Fresh Produce Consortium thinks the programme is flawed. Consortium ceo Nigel Jenney said: “Initiatives like the EU’s healthy eating campaign and the Tasty Bunch road show are certainly ways of introducing young people to enjoying fresh fruit and vegetables. However, the EU appears to be funding and launching a disjointed campaign across the EU, including the UK, without, it would appear, engaging the UK government or the fresh produce industry. Consequently this campaign is likely to miss the mark in fighting childhood obesity.”
But an EU spokeswoman defended the commission’s action she told FPJ: “This campaign has been organised from the bottom up. We got in touch with the European Association of Teachers which contacted its members in various member states. All those that promote school fruit and vegetables were contacted, and if they have not been then we will get in touch: it is not our intention to leave anyone out. I would invite trade associations to get in touch with us and find out how we can be involved together. We cannot get into every school in the EU ourselves and what we want to do with this programme is to start a wave that will then be carried on.”
While the FPC agrees that healthy eating initiatives should be sustained and supported through local and national schemes to ensure that healthy eating habits among young children are properly established, the absence of any awareness of what is already in place in the UK has been very disappointing to the trade.
Jenney said: “It’s frustrating to see a lack of an integrated strategy from the EU through to national governments which would have ensured a lasting impact on our children’s diets rather than a flash-in-the pan campaign. We believe that in the UK this funding should have gone to support already successful initiatives such as the Schools Fruit & Vegetable Scheme, the Change4Life campaign, and current trials of Food Dudes.”
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