By now, you will no doubt be enjoying the after-effects of the Re:fresh Awards Dinner, or regretting your decision not to attend the Re:fresh event.
We are delighted with the success of this year’s conference and awards dinner. Our congratulations go to all the award winners. We would also like to thank all those who sponsored the day and our partners in the Re:fresh set-up - the Fresh Produce Journal and Nexus Media - for all their work in making the day such a success.
We also hope that the Grant Thornton report “Fresh Thinking” will provide you with plenty of food for thought. The report, based on responses from the industry itself, gives all of us in the fresh produce sector an excellent opportunity to review and take stock of our own activities and to look to the future.
On another note, and further to the report on the front page of the FPJ {April 28), the Department of Health has announced that it will not be funding the School Fruit & Vegetable Scheme from August 2007.
After that date a whole school approach to food in schools and food procurement will be adopted under the guidance of the School Food Trust. This trust will be funded by the Department for Education and Skills.
The SFVS has been enormously popular in schools, with 99.5 per cent of eligible schools taking advantage of the scheme. It has had a great effect on making our products known and familiar to a large number of future customers.
It seems likely that there will be support for a continuing programme among schools and parents, as well as from the Department of Health, so we are hopeful that a scheme to distribute fruit in schools will continue in some form.
This is now a tremendous opportunity to influence government policy to retain a focus on fruit and vegetables. We are looking forward to assisting the DfES in the formation of the School Food Trust.