The European Commission has announced the new division of the budget for the school fruit and vegetable programme. For the first time this academic year the EU has joined the programmes for school fruit together with the school milk programme. Both programmes will receive their own budget. In total the EU is making 250 million Euro available, of which 150 million Euro will be spent on fruit and vegetables. The other 100 million is intended for the school milk programme.
With the subsidies, the EU wants to stimulate healthy eating among children. It allows the member states to hand out processed products such as cheese, soup or fruit juice from the subsidised products. The products chosen must meet the health and environmental demands to qualify for the subsidy.
