Free fruit and vegetables will be provided to all Maltese primary schoolchildren from the next scholastic year as the EU embarks on a major campaign to tackle expanding waistlines.
The EU's Agriculture Ministers' meeting in Brussels yesterday approved the School Fruit Scheme, aimed at providing primary schoolchildren with a weekly supply of fresh fruit and vegetables.
Rural Affairs Minister George Pullicino said Malta had gone a step further and the government will be investing €1.2 million of next year's budget to provide all Maltese primary schoolchildren - even those attending Church and private schools - with a daily supply.
He said the government decided to invest in the scheme and provide fresh fruit and vegetables to young students every day, not just once a week. This will be accompanied by an information and educational campaign in schools to ensure the country's future citizens would prefer healthier.
In the coming three years, Malta will be allocated €525,000, or 75 per cent of the cost for one portion of fruit and vegetable per student per week, according to the EU scheme. In the first year, the government would be supplementing this allocation with a further €1.2 million to ensure children get their daily nutritious quota.
The scheme is also expected to benefit the agricultural community because the daily quotas will be sourced from local farmers.
EU experts agreed that a healthy diet could play an integral role in reducing obesity rates and cutting the risk of serious health problems, such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes, later in life. Key to this was the consumption of sufficient amounts of fruit and vegetables.
The World Health Organisation recommends a minimum daily net intake of 400 grams of fruit and vegetables per person. The majority of Europeans fail to meet this target and the downward trend is particularly evident among the young.
Studies showed that healthy eating habits were formed in childhood. People who ate a lot of fruit and vegetables from an early age remained good consumers. Those who did not, rarely changed their habits and passed these on to their own children. Research also showed that families with a lower level of income tended to consume less fruit and vegetables.
The EU estimates that there are 22 million children in member states who are overweight, with more than five million considered to be obese. This figure was expected to rise by 400,000 every year.