Producers push for fruit juice delivery at schools
ANKARA - Anatolia News Agency
One glass of 100 percent fruit juice is equivalent to one serving of fruit, says MEYED General Secretary Akdağ.
Turkey’s Fruit Juice Industry Association (MEYED) General Secretary Ebru Akdağ wants the government to start a campaign to distribute fruit juice in Turkish schools, as it has been doing recently with milk.The average fruit juice consumption in Turkey per person per year is 9 liters compared with 26 liters for milk, according to MEYED.
Akdağ said fruit juice consumption in Turkey lagged behind the Eurooean Union (EU) and other developed markets and that fruit, vegetable and fruit juice consumption was very beneficial to one’s health.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the average person needs to consume five servings of fruits and vegetables per day, said Akdağ. According to her, one glass of 100 percent fruit juice is equivalent to one serving of fruit.
Akdağ said there were currently no government incentives for the production of fruit juice like there are in other sectors. Although there are incentives for fruit production, these fall far below the incentives applied to other sectors like livestock.
Meanwhile, milk consumption in Turkey in April was registered at 727,499 tons, according to Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) data released yesterday.
This was a 1.8 percent increase from the previous month. In April 2011, Turkish milk consumption was 646,642 tons.
The government recently embarked on a campaign to distribute milk throughout elementary schools in Turkey prompting MEYED to request the same.
