MEPs back free school fruit plan

The EU wants children to develop healthy tastes early on

The European Parliament has backed a scheme to provide free fruit and vegetables to schools across the EU, in a drive to curb child obesity.

The 500m-euro (£421m; $632m) plan was approved in a 586-47 vote, however a final decision will be taken by EU farm ministers later this week.

Some 22m children in the 27-member bloc are overweight - including more than 5m who are obese, EU officials say.

The obesity figure is expected to rise by 400,000 annually.

Wide divergence

MEPs supported the free fruit scheme - financed from the EU budget - at a plenary session in Strasbourg.

However, they decided to drop the word "fresh" - despite pressure from some lawmakers on the agricultural committee.

The decision over what sort of fruit and vegetables will be offered to pupils is now expected to be left to individual EU member states, when the EU farm ministers discuss the issue.

Many European lawmakers argue that the consumption of fruit and vegetable not only prevents obesity but also reduces the risk of many diseases.

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.

Earlier this year, the EU's statistics agency Eurostat released data showing a wide divergence in the availability of fruit and vegetables among member states.