EU launches school fruit campaign

The EU wants children to develop healthy tastes early on The European Commission has launched a scheme to provide free fruit and vegetables to schools across Europe in a drive to curb child obesity. The commission aims to spend 90m euros (£71m; $141m) annually on the scheme - a sum to be matched by participating governments, who are yet to approve it. About 22 million children in the EU are overweight - more than five million of them obese, the commission warns. The figure is expected to rise by 400,000 annually. The World Health Organization recommends a daily intake of 400g of fruit and vegetables per person. Most of the EU's 27 member states currently fail to meet that target. See graph of fruit and vegetable availability in EU "Giving kids good habits at an early age is crucial, as they will carry these into later life,"... [read full story]