The School Fruit Programme will continue in the 2014-15 school year, within the framework of which more than 45 million portions of domestically grown fruit and one-hundred percent fruit juice will be distributed to students in grades 1-6 of the country’s primary schools, Deputy Head of Division Márton Bittsánszky from the Ministry of Agriculture stressed at a conference on the Programme in Budapest on Wednesday.

Thanks to the School Fruit Programme launched by the European Community in 2009, 538 thousand children in over two thousand Hungarian schools eat fruit regularly today, meaning the public health aspects of the Programme are extremely significant, he added.

Since 2010, the Government has increased the national budget’s contribution to the Programme from 500 million forints to 1.2 billion forints (EUR 3.8 million), which has made it possible for children attending grades 5 and 6 to also be included in the Programme. Mr. Bittsánszky stressed that the Programme isn’t just about putting fruit onto children’s plates, but it is at least as important that children learn to enjoy eating fruit, because only in this way will they continue their healthy eating habits through adulthood.

Mr. Bittsánszky pointed out that 25 countries including Hungary have joined the Programme, which the EU finances up to a minimum level of 50 percent. The Deputy Head of Division also told Hungarian news agency MTI that 2.8 billion forints (EUR 9 million) were spent on the programme in Hungary during the 2013-14 school year, of which 4.5 million euros were derived from EU funding. The EU will be providing 5.4 million euros to support the Programme in the upcoming 2014-15 school year, and precise figures for the level of domestic funding will be available once the budget is adopted, he added.

According to information distributed at the press conference, the number of obese children in the EU is estimated at 22 million, and this number is expected to increase by 400 thousand every single year.

In Hungary, child obesity and child malnutrition are present is similar numbers. 30-40 thousand youngsters suffer from a lack of food in Hungary, while a further 10 thousand do not have access to suitable quality food, reports state. According to an international study performed by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in 2010, an average of 11.5 percent of children aged between 10-12 in Hungary suffer from malnutrition, while 12.1 are obese, the brochure reads.

President of the National Institute for Food and Nutrition Science Éva Marton said at the conference that a representative survey was performed in 2013 with the involvement of public health authorities. According to the survey, more than half (55 percent) of nursery schools provide attending children with fresh fruit and vegetables at least once-a-day, but some nursery schools don’t give children any fruit at all, she noted, adding that the situation in schools is even worse; the ratio of institutions that provide their pupils with fresh fruit and vege3tables every day is only 40 percent.

At the conference, President of the Hungarian Interprofessional Organisation for Fruit and Vegetables (FruitVeb) Béla Mártonffy presented the figures according to which the fruit and vegetable sector generates an annual production value of 250-300 billion forints (EUR 800-950 million). According to the food production expert, this production value can be further increased with annual budgetary funding of 300-500 million forints, which would both create new jobs within the sector and mean the production of more healthy food for everyday consumption.

(Ministry of Agriculture)