Lincolnshire school’s are sinking their teeth into a new scheme to get children to eat their vegetables.
In a world of ready meals and fast food, it can be difficult to include one of your five a day.
ITV has teamed up with Veg Power to start an initiative to improve the United Kingdom’s health – by starting to introduce vegetables into their mealtimes.
10,000 Veg Power packs have been sent out to primary schools which include fun reward charts and food safe stickers with googly eyes to encourage children to eat more vegetables.
Councillor Patricia Bradwell said: “Our primary schools throughout the county are receiving the packs this week to coincide with the start of the advertising campaign rolled out across some of the channel’s biggest programmes.”
She added: “The aim is to help parents and carers to engage their children with the campaign at home. If it inspires children to eat more healthily and help tackle the rising childhood obesity problem, it’s got to be a good thing.”
The scheme has been broadcasted on ITV to reach families across the country during the TV channel’s peak family viewing times on their biggest programmes – such as Dancing on Ice.
But what does a local greengrocer have to say about this new scheme?
“It’s about time isn’t it? It’s got to start in the home and it’s got to start with kids. I think the whole family have got to cook together and prepare veg and eat it together.” says Steve Sharpe, who runs his own fruit and veg stall at Lincoln’s Central Market.
He added: “They should be eating more vegetables. That’s why I think the young generations have got more health problems than our generation. It’s got to be at school and it’s got to be at home as well.”
The campaign is being backed by celebrity chef Jamie Oliver and is being funded by food companies and supermarkets including Birds Eye, Tesco and Waitrose.
You can view the advert being shown across ITV here:
