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Let Them Eat Fruit (Lots Of It)
Oh, how we laughed when the government started employing people as "Five a Day Fruit and Vegetable Advisers". Now, Britain's legions of vegetable pushers could be out of work, as the EU unveils plans to offload its farmers' surplus fruit and veg production onto schoochildren, hospitals and care homes.
On the face of it, it's an interesting solution. Thanks to the Common Agricultural Policy, European farmers produce tonnes of fruit and veggies which are never sold (but they're still paid for their production). At the same time, European kids aren't eating their greens, and are fattening up and risking illness later in life as a result.
The Independent reports that "Farmers will be paid in full for produce delivered free to schools, holiday camps, hospitals, charities, jails and old people's homes." For its part, the EU will fund advertising programmes to encourage kids to eat the stuff that's delivered for them.
The proposals still have to be passed by governments. While the idea of Europe's children munching carrots instead of chocolate bars is appealling, critics are sure to point to the potential waste in farmers being payed to produce food which is given away for free. And will the children eat the food that the EU mercy missions send to them?
EURSOC has fond memories of his grandmother receiving cases of canned meat in the 1980s the last time there were concerns about overproduction, food mountains and wine lakes. The boiled beef in the cans - which came complete with EU flags on the label - was so foul it ended up on the dog's bowl. The mutt's reaction to the EU grub was not recorded.
