MEPs have called for increased funding to support the distribution of fruit, vegetables and milk to children from nurseries to secondary schools across EU member states.
The European Commission has been urged that foods distributed in schools should be unprocessed, organic, seasonal, produced locally and with quality indications.
The EU school fruit, vegetables and milk scheme has been allocated a total budget of €220.8 million per school year, and aims to encourage children to follow a healthy diet and lifestyle.
Ireland’s budget for the 2022/2023 school year amounts to €1.8 million for fruit and vegetables, and just over €900,300 for milk, according to the European Commission.
The limited schools’ budget prevents the scheme from reaching more students and students of more diverse ages, concluded the agriculture committee in a draft resolution approved today (Wednesday, March 22).
Only 16 million of 76 million students in the EU were targeted by the scheme, which is funded through the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), from 2017 to 2023, the European Commission said.
MEPs have also called on EU countries to spend at least 10% of their budget on educational measures such as farm visits to reconnect children to agriculture.
Less bureaucracy, longer contracts for schools and simplified procurement procedures, which may prevent the entire budget being used, were also demanded in the European Parliament.
Schools scheme
Due to the big differences between member states in the implementation of the scheme, MEPs suggest that the European Commission and EU countries should assess national performances.
“In a period marked by the Covid-19 pandemic, and the withdrawal of the United Kingdom schools from the scheme, all EU countries show a decrease in participation in the scheme.
“The pandemic had a significant impact in the quantity of products available for distribution, with a reduction in the number, variety and period,” the European Parliament said.
The EU budget for the scheme is being distributed per country according to the number of children and the level of regional development.
Following the UK’s withdrawal from the EU the scheme budget was reduced from €250 million to €220 million per school year, according to the European Commission.