The European Commission is launching a campaign to entourage schoolchildren to eat more produce and will provide Polish elementary schools with free fruits and vegetables starting in the fall.

The EC campaign, entitled ‘Fruits in Schools,’ is meant to encourage healthy eating habits at an early age and targets 1.1 million Polish youth between the ages of 6-9 years old.

According to the Commission’s statistics, there are 5 million overweight children in the EU. The campaign is intended to teach children about the values of a healthy diet and about vitamins and minerals naturally consumed through fruits and vegetables.

Poland’s Agricultural Market Agency is responsible for administering the campaign in the country and have allocated 12.3 million euro for the program, 9.2 million of which comes from the European Union. Schools are to receive apples, pears, carrots, radishes, peppers, cucumbers, and fruit and vegetable juice – all from produce grown in Poland.

According to numbers from the Central Statistical Office (GUS), the average person consumed 43 kilogrammes of fruit in 2008, up from 41 kg in 2007. Poles eat mainly apples, bananas and citrus fruits. Poles consumed an average of 61 kg of vegetables in 2008. (mmj)

Source: tvp.info