ANOTHER 90M EUROS ON HIGH VISIBILITY SCHOOL FRUIT PROGRAMME!
Two projects to sustain the fight against child obesity presented during the 2010 edition of the Fruit Logistica trade fair in Berlin
Fruit consumption among young people, particularly in schools, is set to receive a boost with the return of a superhero and the far-reaching project financed by the European Union to the tune of 90 million euros.
The news was announced on 4 February 2010 at the Fruit Logistica trade show in Berlin, during the workshop organised by CSO on the theme of “Programmes and activities to promote fruit consumption in Europe and to protect health”.
The session was conducted jointly by Giuliana Keller, coordinator of the School Fruit Scheme for the European Commission, Paolo Bruni, COGECA president, and Luciano Trentino, director of CSO.
Encouraging fruit and vegetable consumption among children has never been a more pressing issue: according to the World Health Organisation, in Europe no fewer than 22 million children are overweight and 5.1 million of these are considered obese. Increased consumption of fruit and vegetables as an alternative to high-fat foods, particularly junk food, can play a fundamental role in combating obesity and preventing serious cardiovascular diseases, as well as certain forms of cancer and diabetes.
These considerations formed the basis for the creation of the three-year School Fruit Scheme, which numerous European countries have joined for the 2009-2010 academic and in particular: Bulgaria, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Slovenia, Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Malta and the UK.
The School Fruit Scheme aims to introduce both fresh and processed produce into schools, promoting the consumption of fruit and vegetables with a targeted awareness campaign highlighting the ways in which eating fruit has a beneficial impact on health and wellbeing.
“The project,” declared Giuliana Keller of the European Commission, “will try to help change the eating habits of millions of children in Europe, by improving their knowledge of fruit and vegetable produce and by helping to give fruit a more dynamic and appealing image.”
The need to increase fruit consumption in Europe was reiterated by Paolo Bruni, President of COGECA.
“In Europe (EU 27),” confirmed Paolo Bruni in his address, “according to FAO statistics, a total of just over 60 million tonnes of fruit is harvested per year, including produce destined for processing, with a slight yet sustained fall in production.
Production for fresh consumption is close to 40 million tonnes”.
“The data on European consumption,” continued President Bruni, “is extremely patchy. Nevertheless according to CSO estimates calculated from various sources, apparent consumption of fruit in the period 2004-2008 amounted to 38.4 million tonnes, an increase of 2% on the previous five-year period. It is clear,” he underlined, “that we need to develop new thinking as regards consumption, and build objective evaluation tools to help European producers put in place effective strategies”.
To promote and raise the profile of European fruit in a fun way in Germany, UK, Austria, Poland and Sweden, the Mr Fruitness project has been extended for a further three years. The campaign, which is financed by the European Union, the Italian government and CSO, sees the return of the superhero in the green leotard who, since his creation in 2006, has carried the fight against childhood obesity by promoting the consumption of pears, peaches, kiwifruit, nectarines and, from this year onward, plums.
During the last three-year campaign, it is calculated that Mr Fruitness generated no fewer than 21 million leads. From now until 2012, the superhero will continue reaching out to children by making various forays into major retail chain stores, encouraging sport and laying on all-new promotional activities such as original educational playing cards. It is hoped that through learning how to play fun traditional games with a novel twist, children will become fully familiar with the nutritional characteristics of peaches, pears, kiwifruit and plums.
“The continued funding of the Mr Fruitness Project,” concluded Luciano Trentini, Director of CSO, demonstrates that the strategy for promoting fruit to children through play and fun, rather than by stressing the health benefits, has borne fruit. Thanks to his appealing communication methods and campaign materials, our fruity superhero is entering large chain stores and smaller high-street shops in innovative ways that cannot fail to interest the retail chains of the participating countries”.
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