EU To Splash Out On Fruit And Veg

the European Union is definitely on the right track

The European Union Health policy makers are finally putting their money where their mouth is with a pledge to invest £421 million into an initiative to provide free fruit and vegetables to schoolchildren all over Europe.

With an estimated 5 million obese children and 22 million overweight children in the European Union health officials are beginning to realise that they cannot ignore the problem anymore.  Members of the European Parliament agreed to a plan by where healthy fruits and vegetables from farms will be distributed free of charge to schools. The financing of the scheme will come from the European Union budget and individual nations will decide on what fruit and vegetables to offer to individual schools.

The plan sounds like a good idea however there have been concerns raised that it could become extremely complicated and bureaucratic with hundreds if not thousands of officials needed to implement it.  There were also individuals who said that it could end up turning into a huge time and money consuming scheme similar to the much derided EU agricultural subsidies.

Nevertheless the European Union is definitely on the right track by promoting the eating of fruit and vegetables especially to young children who form their eating habits at an early age. Many nutritionists believe that the problem of obesity in children all over the EU could be solved completely if they were made to eat more fruits and vegetables everyday.

The European Union should not underestimate the importance of education with regard to healthy eating which has been seen from countless occasions to be the most powerful tool in reducing childhood obesity. Possibly they should be investing in special classes for schools to teach all about nutrition, exercise, healthy eating and cooking which could encourage them to actually eat the free fruit and veg.