Institutional portal - Municipality of Milan

Thanks to the support of the Intesa Sanpaolo Charity Fund, over 20.000 students will be interested

Milan, August 24 2019 – The “Frutta a mid-morning” project, created by Milano Ristorazione in 2019 in the wake of the Municipality's Food Policy, is back for the 2020/2016 school year, to promote correct eating habits also among boys and girls in Milan's schools.
 
In 2016, the pilot project involved 30 schools for around 4.000 children, which then became 59 in the 2017/2018 school year with 17.400 students involved and 49 in 2018/2019 for 14.600 pupils involved. Now, thanks to the support of the Intesa Sanpaolo Charity Fund, it will be possible to reach up to 75 schools and approximately 20.000 primary school students in Milan.
 
Through the Food Policy offices, in 2018 the Municipality found that 21,8% of children in Milan eat less than two portions of fruit and vegetables a day and that approximately 20% of Milanese have a high level of food criticality. The research was added to that carried out in 2016 by the Ministry of Health, from which it emerged that in Italy 9% of children do not eat breakfast at home, that 65% eat too much of a snack and that 22% of parents say that their children do not consume fruit and vegetables every day.
 
“These are percentages on which we have the duty to intervene as public administrators – comments the Councilor for Education Laura Galimberti –, to guarantee everyone, starting from the boys and girls who attend our schools, thanks to the commitment of Milano Ristorazione , the possibility of accessing healthy food and facilitating knowledge of a correct eating style. For this year's new edition we found in Fondazione Cariplo's Ricetta QuBì Program, aimed at strengthening the ability to combat child food poverty in Milan, and in Intesa Sanpaolo excellent allies to achieve important growth objectives of the project". 

“In these first years, Milano Ristorazione has noted an excellent impact on the eating habits of children between 6 and 10 years old, who are thus able to develop important foundations for a better lifestyle – adds Anna Scavuzzo, deputy mayor with responsibility for Food Policy – ​​and two years after the start of the program it was found that consuming fruit instead of other foods mid-morning increased the satisfaction of lunch by 11% (from 63% to 74%) and decreased food waste by 17%. The 'Frutta a mid-morning' program also contributes to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), defined by the United Nations and on which Milan is making a significant progress for the 2030 Agenda".

“Frutta a mid-morning is a project by Milano Ristorazione which over the years has consolidated itself as a virtuous model – states Bernardo Notarangelo, President of Milano Ristorazione –. At school, 'food time' is educational time. And for the students of Milan, eating fruit during the mid-morning break means learning and consolidating good eating practices, a healthy habit which, we hope, will accompany them in life too."
 
“Intesa Sanpaolo, also as a partner of the QuBì children's programme, supports the 'Frutta a mid-morning' project through the Charity Fund, an important intervention for all students in Milanese schools – states Giovanna Paladino, head of the Technical Secretariat of Presidency of Intesa Sanpaolo -, but even more significant for those children in situations of social and economic fragility who have difficulty accessing healthy nutrition".

'Frutta a mid-morning' is an initiative of the Municipality of Milan and Milano Ristorazione which contributed with their own extraordinary resources in the first years of intervention: for the 2019/2020 school year, the project will be supported by QuBì - The recipe against child poverty and, specifically, by Intesa Sanpaolo through the 'Charity Fund and works of a social and cultural nature' which, headed by the Presidency of the Bank, contributes to the achievement of the social objectives of the Business Plan with liberal donations throughout Italy . In 2019 its endowment amounted to 13,5 million euros.