For the whole of the next academic year (2025/2026), free fruit and veg from local Tesco stores will give children in more than 500 schools a nutritious boost that they might not ordinarily get. The Tesco Fruit & Veg for Schools programme launched in September 2024 as part of the supermarket’s Stronger Starts funding and community support for children. In the East Midlands, a total of 17 schools participated. The second year of funding will continue to be specifically targeted in areas where the proportion of pupils receiving free school meals is above 50%. The focus on areas with higher free school meal participation is particularly important because data shows that families on lower incomes struggle to afford a healthy diet. Only 12% of children aged between 11 and 18 are meeting the five-a-day recommendation [1] and for children taking part in the scheme, Tesco expects to see their overall fruit and veg intake increase by 23%, based on the average five-a-day intakes in school-aged children. The schools taking part in the scheme will be able to shop for the fruit and veg the school needs in stores local to their school. Most popular fruits in year one, were: 1. Apples (225,585kg) 2. Bananas (108,602kg) 3. Oranges (92,597kg) 4. Grapes (39,771kg) 5. Strawberries (37,735kg) Ashwin Prasad, Tesco UK CEO, commented: “Schools have told us what a positive impact the Tesco Fruit & Veg for Schools programme has made on their children, so we are delighted we are able to support even more schools in year two. “The first year of our programme has been a huge success and by expanding it we can ensure that even more young people in some of the most challenged communities in the UK get access to more fruit and veg.” Astral Blanchard, Head Teacher at Twerton Infant School in Bath, said: “The Tesco Fruit & Veg for Schools programme has given our children the opportunity to try so many new fruit and vegetables, while also helping us build healthy eating into a valuable part of our daily routine. Snack time is now a calm and enjoyable moment where we read stories, talk about flavours and explore new tastes together in ways we hadn’t before. Children are helping to prepare the fruit, trying things they’ve never eaten, and even asking for fruit and vegetables at home. It has been a joy to see their curiosity grow and their enthusiasm for healthy eating thrive.” Elaine Hindal, Chief Executive of the British Nutrition Foundation, said: “Tesco’s Fruit & Veg for Schools programme has helped to improve the diets of our young people by helping them get more of their five a day, try new varieties and develop healthy habits that we hope will stay with them through life. We’re delighted to see the programme expanded to provide daily fruit and vegetables to even more children who might not normally be able to access them.” References: [1] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/ndns-results-from-years-9-to-11-2016-to-2017-and-2018-to-2019
