Schools to milk it under EU scheme

Yoghurt and cheese are to be made available to schools under the EU School Milk Scheme. The European Commission today announced that the scheme, which was set up about 30 years ago to subsidise the distribution of milk to schools, will now be updated to include a wider range of dairy products and will also be extended to secondary schools.

"The School Milk Scheme has both nutritional and educational character and contributes to the fight against obesity and to providing essential elements for children's growth and health," said Mariann Fischer Boel, EU Agriculture Commissioner. "Now, with simpler rules and more attractive products available, we expect that even more schools, including secondary schools, will participate in the school milk scheme."

The EU subsidy will now cover a wider range of dairy products: certain fermented milk products with fruit or fruit juice, plain fermented milk products, such as yoghurt, buttermilk, kephir etc., and a wide range of cheeses. Member States will be able to choose the products they want to distribute from the list of eligible products.

Secondary schools will now have the same access to the scheme as pre-schools and primary schools. In the past, Member States were not obliged to include them.

This updated version of the School Milk Scheme has been drawn up by the Commission in response to a number of requests from EU Member States and the European Parliament. On Tuesday the Commission made a proposal for an EU School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme (see IP/08/1116). Both schemes are part of the Commission's increased focus on healthier diet and eating habits for children.

The EU scheme to fund the distribution of milk to schools has existed for more than 30 years. In the 2006/2007 school year, the equivalent of 305,000 tonnes of milk was distributed in schools in 22 Member States with the EU providing more than €50 million in funding. The new version of the scheme will come into effect from August.

It is expected that more schools will take part in the future, and it is hoped that the wider range of available products will encourage children to replace low-quality food and drinks with dairy.

http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/markets/milk/schoolmilk/index_en.htm