The European Parliament’s agricultural committee has endorsed plans to merge the School Fruit Scheme (SFS) with the School Milk Scheme (SMS) in a bid to make the projects more efficient. 

Committee members met on Tuesday (April 14) to amend draft rules on schemes to provide fruit, vegetables and milk to millions of schoolchildren across Europe.

Member of European Parliament Marc Tarabella (Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament) drafted the resolution.

"A healthy and balanced diet is the foundation of good health and yet the consumption of fruit, vegetables and milk has been declining in Europe with many negative consequences for Europeans," he says in a release.

"The aim of the new rules is to do more in our schools, not only to provide our children with healthy foodstuffs, but to better educate them about healthy eating habits."

The committee’s amendments to the legislation were adopted by 32 votes to six, with seven abstentions.

Emphasis on education & funding distribution

The agriculture committee backed plans to merge the two schemes, which are currently operating separately with one providing fruit, vegetables and education services for schoolchildren across European member states and the other supplying milk.

In addition, the committee wants more focus on extending the educational measures already included in the fruit scheme to cover milk as well.

It also wants member states to earmark between 10-20% of the EU funding received to educational activities designed to teach children about sustainable food, promote healthy eating habits and fund educational farm visits.

Plans also include what is described as 'fairer distribution' of funds among member states by adopting two set criteria for the scheme relating to the proportion of children aged 6-10  in the population and the degree of development of the region.

The committee also wants to expand the list of foodstuffs eligible for funding to include local milk products such as yoghurt, cheese and curd.

An additional €20 million (US$21.2 million) a year could also be allocated for the milk scheme bringing the funding up to £100 million (US$105.9 million) with €150 million (US$159 million) allocated for fruit and vegetables.

The set of amendments to the draft law as approved by the agriculture committee should be scrutinized by the full House during a plenary session in Brussels scheduled for May 27.

In the past, Freshfel Europe and the European Public Health Alliance (EPHA) have expressed concern over uniting the two schemes claiming this kind of combination could lead to 'mixed messages' that 'could jeopardize achievements'.

Currently all 28 member states participate in the school milk scheme and 25 implement the school fruit schemes (except Finland, Sweden and the U.K.).

Historically the milk scheme has been running for much longer since 1977, while the fruit scheme came into effect in 2007. Both were created to promote consumption, healthy eating habits and have, until now, operated under different legal and financial arrangements.

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