THE EUROPEAN Commission has proposed a €90 million scheme that would see free fruit and vegetables provided to schoolchildren across the EU from next year.
If it receives approval from the Council of Ministers and European Parliament, the scheme will be offered to member states, including Ireland, later in the year.
The initiative was announced in Brussels yesterday by Mariann Fischer Boel, commissioner for agriculture and rural development, who said the commission wanted to demonstrate it was serious about taking concrete steps to fight obesity.
"Giving kids good habits at an early age is crucial as they will carry these into later life.
"Too many of our children eat far too little fruit and vegetables and often don't appreciate how delicious they are.
"You only have to walk down any high street in Europe to see the extent of the problems we face with overweight kids."
She said the scheme would be paid for with EU funds of € 90 million per year, and this would be matched by national funds in the countries that decided to take part in the programme.
Many EU countries already have fairly successful subsidised fruit and vegetable programmes in schools but others, such as in central and eastern Europe, lack such schemes.
Ireland has been leading the way in providing fruit and vegetables free to primary school children since 2005, when the Government launched a pilot scheme, run by Bord Bia, in 150 primary schools across the State.
In recognition of its success after one year, the scheme was awarded a World Health Organisation best-practice award in 2006, from among 202 applications from 35 countries.
The pilot scheme proved so successful with children, parents and teachers that it is to be made available in every primary school in Ireland.
It will be introduced to the country's 3,300 primary schools over the next six years, with a budget of €28 million.