Secretary of the State visits Primary School in support of Veg Power’s Eat Them to Defeat Them campaign

Veg Power, the not-for-profit alliance increasing the UK’s vegetable consumption, announced that The Rt Hon Steve Reed, OBE, MP for Streatham and Croydon North and Secretary of the State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, accompanied them on a visit to Sunnyhill Primary School to experience the benefits children in his constituency gained from participation in the Eat Them to Defeat Them campaign. During his visit, Steve Reed was able to see the campaign in action by joining in with the vegetable-themed activities designed to inspire pupils to eat more veg and discussed the benefits of the campaign with the teaching staff.

Eat Them to Defeat Them is a multi-award winning campaign that helps to tackle one of the major public health issues in the UK – poor vegetable consumption. 80% of children are not eating enough vegetables and worryingly a third of kids are eating less than a portion per day. Poor dietary health is known to have a negative impact on many aspects of children’s health but the impact lasts into adulthood resulting in increased healthcare costs and reduced productivity.

The Eat Them To Defeat Them campaign inspires kids to eat more veg in school and to continue that behaviour at home. The real power of the campaign comes from repeated participation in schools. In parents whose children have taken part more than once, 55% reported a lasting and long term improvement in both the volume and variety of vegetables eaten.3 This year, 420,000 children from 1,511 primary and special schools across the UK have benefited from the campaign that was sponsored by major supermarket and food brands Co-op, Sainsbury’s and Tilda.

Dan Parker, chief executive, Veg Power said, “We were thrilled that The Rt Hon Steve Reed was able to join us on this school visit and see the Eat Them to Defeat Them campaign in full swing. The school visits really bring the campaign alive and by making vegetables fun, he was able to witness the change in children who were soon chomping on their vegetables.”

Nicola Gentleman, deputy head, Sunnyhill Primary School, Lambeth said: “Our pupils and staff have thoroughly enjoyed participating in the Eat Them to Defeat Them campaign. There has been a real buzz around the school and lots more vegetables consumed as a result”, commented Nicola Gentleman, Deputy Head, Sunnyhill Primary School, Lambeth.