The government has been urged to reinstate its school fruit and vegetable scheme amid concerns that the diets of disadvantaged children have deteriorated during the coronavirus crisis. The programme, which gives a free item each day to children in reception and year one in England, was suspended at the end of March after the general closure of schools, but parents have called for its return after research found that fruit and vegetable intake by children who receive free school meal vouchers has decreased significantly.
Government documents show the scheme was worth up to £179m between 1 April 2016 and 31 March 2020, but a new contract to run between August 2020 and August 2022 is only worth up to £60m. The Department of Health and Social Care would not comment on the contract, which was awarded on 6 March, about two weeks before the decision to close schools. It was awarded to six fruit and vegetable suppliers based across England to provide produce to 2.3 million children in approximately 16,600 schools.
A government spokesperson said the fruit and vegetable scheme “has been paused so as little fresh produce goes to waste as possible while we work to bring more children back to school. Funding which would have been spent on the scheme is being used to support the NHS and other priorities during the pandemic.” Schools providing meals to children have been asked to try to meet school food standards to help ensure children have healthy balanced diets, including fruit and vegetables.
Source: Guardian
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