School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme
About the Scheme
The Department of Health funds the School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme as part of the '5 a day' programme to increase fruit and vegetable consumption. Under the scheme, all four to six year old children in Local Education Authority maintained infant, primary and special schools in England are entitled to a free piece of fruit or vegetable portion each school day. Around 440 million pieces of fruit or portions of vegetables are given to over 2 million children in some 16,000 schools across England each year. The scheme supplies apples, pears, bananas, soft citrus (such as clementines and satsumas) carrots, tomatoes, cucumbers and strawberries.
The Department of Health commission their own schedule of testing. Those results are reviewed by the Pesticide Residues Committee before being published here. (Suppliers to the scheme are also required to get their produce tested for pesticide residues regularly and to send these results to the Department of Health.)
Results by School Year
2009 - 2010
Autumn 2009 (pdf, 81pages) - published 24 June 2010
2008 - 2009
Summer 2009 (pdf, 64 pages) - published 15 December 2009
Spring 2009 (pdf, 55 pages) - published 24 September 2009
Autumn 2008 (pdf, 51 pages) - published 25 June 2009
2007- 2008
Summer 2008 (pdf, 60 pages) - published 17 March 2008
Spring 2008 (pdf, 44 pages) - published 25 September 2008
Autumn 2007 (pdf, 48 pages) - published 17 April 2008
2006-2007
Summer 2007 (pdf, 57 pages) - published 13 December 2007
Spring 2007 (pdf, 40 pages) - published 27 September 2007
Autumn 2006 (pdf, 35 pages) - published 19 April 2007
2005 - 2006
Summer 2006 (pdf, 34 pages) - published 9 November 2006
Spring 2006 (pdf, 33 pages) - published 22 June 2006
Autumn 2005 (pdf, 38 pages) - published 9 March 2006
2004 - 2005
Summer 2005 (pdf, 41 pages) - published 15 December 2005
Spring 2005 (pdf, 29 pages) - published 21 July 2005
Autumn 2004 (pdf, 42 pages) - published 7 July 2005
The scheme began operating across England in the Autumn term of 2004. Expansion acrosss England from the inital pilot area began in 2002.
2003 - 2004
2002 - 2003
2001 - 2002
Summer term 2001
School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme - information for parents, schools, teachers, distributors and suppliers