The EU-wide initiative aims to encourage healthier eating habits in school children at a young age. In Ireland the money will go to support the very successful Food Dudes scheme, which was rolled out across Irish primary schools to try and get young children to eat fruit and vegetables.

In all, €150m of EU aid has been set aside under the scheme for the 2016/2017 school year. This is put together with nearly €40m of national or private co-funding in the 25 member states that participate. Ireland can top up its allocation at a co-funding rate of 25%.

Merging with milk scheme

This will be the eighth year of the scheme since its launch in 2009, but it will also be the last year of its implementation in its current form. A new school scheme, merging this with the school milk scheme, is likely to be finalised in the coming weeks and will come into force from 1 August 2017.

More than 10.2m children in participating member states benefited from the scheme in 2014/2015 by receiving portions of fruit and vegetables in their school. Improved nutrition plays an important role in combating health problems related to poor nutrition such as child obesity, according to the EU.