The Fresh Produce Consortium has rubbished claims that the government's free-fruit-for-schools scheme will not benefit the state of the UK's health. The organisation's ceo Doug Henderson dismissed criticisms, which were made by Tom Sanders, professor of Nutrition and Dietetics at King's College, London, at a Food Foundation debate.

Sanders branded the schools project as having a 'trivial' impact on the diet of children, and as being 'a logistical nightmare and a wasteful use of scarce resources.' He also said the £52 million allocated to carry out the nationwide scheme would be better spent on human nutritional research.

But Henderson said that not only were the professor's comments incorrect, they were also out of keeping with the position of his own department at King's.

'Medical recommendation is to eat at least 400g of fruit and vegetables a day,' he said. 'The DoH scheme is part of an overall government strategy to achieve this objective. This will have a significant impact on the incidence of cancer and cardiovascular disease and make significant savings for the National Health Service.

'The implementation of the free-fruit-for-schools scheme has seen two very successful pilots and both the produce industry and government are confident that it can be effectively implemented nationwide.

'With regards to professor Sanders' comments, firstly it will not be a logistical nightmare, either for the industry, nor the DoH.

'Secondly, its contribution will not be trivial when placed in the context of government legislation, which lays down standards for school lunches; as well as the knock-on effects if will have on domestic consumption by both children and parents.

'Finally, professor Sanders own department has for many years been in discussions to implement such a scheme as this [it was part of the national committee that recommended the adoption of the free-fruit-for-schools scheme], so I find his comments to be out of tune with the rest of his department.'