Free fruit and vegetables do not reach 40% of preschool and 1st cycle classes

Around 40% of preschool and 1st cycle classes still do not have access to free fruit, despite the fact that in the last school year the number of children consuming fruit or vegetables in schools increased by 15.8%.

According to the study on the ‘Heroes da Fruta’ initiative, by the Portuguese Association Against Childhood Obesity (APCOI), carried out in partnership with researchers from the Environmental Health Institute (ISAMB) of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon (FMUL), Évora was one of the districts with the highest percentage of classes with free access to fruit and vegetables at school.

Raquel Martins, nutritionist and researcher at ISAMB/FMUL, said that the data suggest “a relationship between the free distribution of fruit and vegetables in schools and greater adherence to healthy eating behaviors” and added that, in this study, Évora was one of the districts with the highest percentage of classes with free access to fruit and vegetables at school and also the one in which there was the greatest reduction in children not consuming fruit and vegetables daily, after participating in the ‘Heroes da Fruta’ school challenge.

In addition, Évora was the district that registered “the greatest reduction in unhealthy snacks at the end of the intervention”.

Bragança was the second district to report having less free access to fruit and vegetables at school and the only one where there was an increase in children not consuming fruit and vegetables daily at school.

Portugal is not taking full advantage of the funds

Increasing fruit and vegetable consumption in childhood is the main objective of the ‘Fruit Heroes’ school initiative, launched in 2011 by APCOI, whose results surprised mainly by the lack of knowledge, on the part of local authorities, of the possibility of accessing European funds for guarantee this free fruit distribution in schools.

“Spain uses almost 100% of these funds and Portugal is not using the entire amount, largely due to ignorance of the possibility of this access to European funds”, said Mário Silva, president of APCOI, to Lusa, stressing that, in addition to the municipalities, the school groups can access these funds.

“Sometimes the municipalities may not even be able to distribute them later and the process can be more expeditious with the groups, but it is necessary to disclose that they can also access these community funds annually, through the IFAP [Instituto de Financiamento da Agricultura e Pescas]”, he added.

The official underlined the importance of combining strategies, saying: “It is more effective when, at the same time, you motivate children to adopt these behaviors and distribute [os alimentos]”.

The ISAMB/FMUL study analyzed, in the academic year 2021/2022, a sample of 16,970 children, between 2 and 14 years of age, from 845 classes from 433 educational establishments.

Project “Fruit Heroes”

Regarding the free distribution of fruits and vegetables at school, either through the European School Fruit Scheme or another local support mechanism during the 2021/2022 school year, the study concluded that “the frequency of access at national level of the surveyed classes is stood at 60.5%”.

Faro was the district with the highest percentage of classes with access to free fruit distributed at school (92.9%), followed by Braga (83.0%), Santarém (78.1%), Évora (70 .8%) and Viseu (68.0%). The lowest percentages were found in Viana do Castelo (9.1%), Bragança (20.0%) and Portalegre (35.7%).

The ISAMB/FMUL team of researchers also analyzed the effects of the “Heroes da Fruta” initiative in the 2021/2022 school year on changes in students’ eating habits and concluded that, overall, “after participating in this project, the percentage of students who did not consume fruit or vegetables daily at school decreased from 19.6% to 6.9%”.

After this project, in almost all districts and regions there was also a reduction in the daily consumption of unhealthy school snacks, with the exception of the region of Madeira and the district of Portalegre.

The Azores region recorded the greatest decrease in the intake of unhealthy school snacks.

The president of APCOI considers that “these results prove once again the positive effects of the ‘Fruit Heroes’ method in the fight against malnutrition, by increasing school consumption of fruits and vegetables and reducing the intake of less healthy foods in snacks of the children participating in this initiative, important behaviors for the prevention of childhood obesity and other chronic diseases such as diabetes”.

Since 2011, more than 580 thousand students from all districts and regions of Portugal have participated in the Heróis da Fruta school challenge.

Registration for the 2022/2023 school year is now open for all preschool and 1st cycle classes in public or private establishments and can be done until the end of the year at www.heroisdafruta.com.