Around a third of pre-school and primary school students did not have free access to fruit or vegetables at school during the last school year, according to a study of children's eating habits.
The conclusion results from a study carried out by the Institute of Environmental Health (ISAMB) of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon, in partnership with the Portuguese Association Against Childhood Obesity (APCOI).
Of the 21.773 students surveyed, aged between 2 and 13 and from 586 schools that joined the “Heróis da Fruta” food education initiative, around 35% did not have access to fruit or vegetables distributed free of charge at school.
There are areas of the country where the lack of free access to these foods is more pressing, especially Portalegre, a district where fruit and vegetables were distributed free of charge to just 13,3% of classes.
On the other hand, in areas such as Madeira, Braga and Viseu, the overwhelming majority of students (more than 80%) had free access.
Even so, Raquel Martins, nutritionist and researcher at ISAMB, states that free access, despite promoting the consumption of fruit and vegetables, is not decisive for its increase.
An example of this are schools in the Beja district, where children significantly increased their daily consumption of fruit or vegetables throughout the school year, despite it also being one of the regions with the lowest free access.
«In addition to the food supply, specific actions are needed to promote the consumption of fruit and vegetables in schools», argues the researcher, cited in a statement.
This is the objective of the “Fruit Heroes” initiative, in which more than 81 thousand students participated in the 2022/2023 school year, with an impact on improving children’s eating habits.
According to the results, the percentage of students who took unhealthy snacks to school every day decreased by 54,8% between the beginning and end of the school year. On the other hand, the percentage of children who consumed at least one portion of fruit or vegetables daily at school rose from 73,7% to 88,2%, nationally, in just five weeks.
«During this edition of the 'Fruit Heroes' school challenge, almost half of the children (48,5%) consumed for the first time a fruit or vegetable that they had never tried before», the report also states.
In some schools, the scenario at the beginning and end of the school year was very different. In the Azores, the percentage of children who reported not eating fruit or vegetables daily at school increased from 40,8% to 6,6%. Also in Évora and Vila Real there was a reduction of 20 percentage points, while in Beja the difference was 10 points.
Among the 698 classes that had access to fruit or vegetables distributed free of charge at school, the majority used the European School Fruit Scheme.
There were also schools using their own funds or funds from the parents' association, others that benefited from the local food bank or direct support from local authorities.
According to the president of APCOI, the “Heróis da Fruta” initiative has contributed to improving the eating habits of more than 660 thousand children since 2011.
«In the last edition, the 'Heróis da Fruta' project registered a record participation with more than 80 thousand students and reached 70% of Portuguese municipalities. This school year we want to take the initiative even further», defended Mário Silva.
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