In more than a thousand schools, the School Nutrition Scheme is starting

This school year, which begins on Monday, September 4, 1,119 Croatian schools will participate in the School Nutrition Scheme – free meals of fruits, vegetables, milk, and dairy products for school children, with local farmers given priority in food selection, it was announced on Sunday by the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Croatia.

The School Scheme combines the previous School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme and the School Milk Program, with a total of 23 million kuna allocated for its implementation to provide Croatian schoolchildren with an additional meal of fresh fruits and vegetables as well as milk and dairy products.

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For the financing of the School Scheme, the European Commission has allocated Croatia 1,720,946 euros for fruits and vegetables and 800,354 euros for milk and dairy products, the Ministry emphasizes. The target group for the delivery and distribution of fruits and vegetables includes students of all grades in primary and secondary schools, while for milk and dairy products, it includes primary school students from grades 1 to 4.

Tolušić: We want children to eat fresh, locally grown fruits and vegetables and dairy products

Acceptable products for delivery to schools include, from fruits and vegetables – mandarins, apples, pears, plums, peaches, nectarines, cherries, strawberries, tomatoes, and carrots. From milk and dairy products, these include pasteurized milk, buttermilk, sour milk and cream, yogurt, kefir, and other fermented or sour milk and cream.

“With the new School Scheme, we prioritize local farmers because we want our children to eat fresh, locally grown fruits and vegetables and dairy products. In this way, we preserve jobs in agriculture and develop Croatian villages. Our children will eat domestic fruits and vegetables and drink domestic milk. Thus, in addition to adopting healthy eating habits, they will also adopt the habit of consuming locally grown food, and they will have the opportunity to visit family farms from which these products will come,” emphasized Minister of Agriculture Tomislav Tolušić.

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“Once they feel the difference between fresh, just-picked fruit and that which has traveled thousands of kilometers in refrigerated trucks to their school, they will learn to appreciate the quality difference between domestic, locally grown products and those whose journey to our table has affected their quality and experience,” added Tolušić.

During the four years of the School Fruit Scheme, more than 4,000 tons of fruit have been delivered

From this school year, a novelty is that schools have become the holders of the measure, unlike previous years when it was the supplier. Each school wishing to participate in the School Scheme selects a supplier who will deliver fruits and vegetables, milk, yogurt, etc.

Fruits and vegetables will be delivered and distributed at least once a week, while milk and dairy products will be delivered once a week in accordance with the school calendar throughout the entire school year.

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The Ministry of Agriculture reminds that the Agency for Payments in Agriculture, Fisheries, and Rural Development has published a Public Call for participation in the School Scheme for schools, which was open until June 30, 2017, as well as an expression of interest from suppliers for the delivery of fruits and vegetables and/or milk and dairy products to schools participating in the School Scheme, which has been open throughout the school year.

1,119 schools have applied, and so far, 87 suppliers.

The Ministry of Agriculture and the Agency for Payments in Agriculture, Fisheries, and Rural Development have also prepared a Guide for schools on the implementation of the school scheme for the 2017/2018 school year, which details all steps in the implementation of the Scheme.

So far, during the four-year implementation of the School Fruit Scheme, over 4,000 tons of fruit have been delivered, for which suppliers have been paid a total of 50 million kuna.