Organic School Fruit Scheme in Vienna

Summary

The consumption of fruits and vegetables contributes greatly to the preservation of health. However, less than 20% of the Austrian children consume the recommended quantity of f&v, school pupils consume only between 1/4th and 1/3rd of the recommended quantity. A main cause is the lack of availability. The "organic school fruit scheme" as part of the project "Wiener Jause" (Viennese snack), which we conceived and implemented, aims to rectify this situation for the public primary schools in the 20th district of Vienna using a situational preventive approach. The 20th district is relatively poor - the net income is 16% below the city average -, and more then 40% of the inhabitants have a migriation background. F&v are delivered by local eco-farmers, and distributed among the pupils directly in the classroom twice a week. The pupils also have the opportunity to visit the farm of their supplier, in order to gain a better appreciation of where their fruits comes from. During a 3 year pilot phase, the f&v are provided to the pupils free of cost, after this initial phase the parents will have to cover 50 % of the cost. The project gained a high level of acceptance among pupils, parents and teachers. An evaluation showed that the percentage of pupils which consumed f&g during school days, rose from initial 17% at project start to 65% after 1,5 years. All schools and parents associations decided to continue the "organic school fruit scheme" after the pilot phase. Similar experiences have been made in other countries, where it was demonstrated that school fruit schemes lead to an increase in the consumption of f&v and at the same time to a decrease in the consumption of unhealthy snacks (lemonade, sweets, chips), whereby children coming from disadvantaged families profited most.