The European Commission is this week holding a conference on the EU-wide School Fruit Scheme, during which 300 stakeholders will discuss how the initiative can be run effectively.
The two-day event, which runs from 15-16 December in Brussels, will focus on specific issues ranging from the supply chain and coherence with other policies to communication with parents and teachers and evaluation techniques.
“The people taking part in the conference have a wealth of ideas about how to design and manage schemes to provide healthy food for children,” said EU Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel.
“One of the things at the top of my wish list for this conference is the development of best practice models and the establishment of a network of experts.”
EU agriculture ministers reached a political agreement on a Commission proposal for a European Union-wide scheme to provide fruit and vegetables to school children in November. Annual European funds worth €90m will pay for the purchase and distribution of fresh fruit and vegetables to schools, a sum that will be matched by national and private funds in member states that sign up to the programme.
The EU School Fruit Scheme is scheduled to begin at the start of the 2009/2010 school year.
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