Joyful Fruit Month and EatSmart Restaurants jointly promote fruit eating (with photos)
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     The Joyful Fruit Month event organised by the Department of Health (DH) is collaborating with the EatSmart Restaurant campaign for the first time this year in order to encourage the public to make eating fruit a habit.

     The "Joyful Fruit Month@EatSmart Restaurants" Coupon Promotion offers a serving of fruit to students at schools participating in the Joyful Fruit Month event and their family members upon ordering an EatSmart dish at an EatSmart Restaurant (ESR) participating in the promotion and presenting the coupon.

     Officiating at the Kick-off Ceremony for Joyful Fruit Month@EatSmart Restaurants today (March 30), the Secretary for Food and Health, Dr Ko Wing-man, said, "The number of secondary, primary and pre-primary institutions participating in the Joyful Fruit Month event in this school year has risen to more than 1 300 and has reached a record high. The number of participating students exceeds 500 000. The achievement is remarkable.

     "We are continuing to expand the Joyful Fruit Month event from schools to the community level and hope the general public can build up a good habit of consuming fruit. We are glad that we have received keen support from many ESRs this year for promoting fruit eating in April."

     According to the most recent study conducted by the DH in 2014, over 80 per cent of the public do not consume a sufficient amount of fruit and vegetables on a daily basis.

     The Nutrient Testing of School Lunch in Primary Schools in Hong Kong conducted by the DH in 2013 also revealed that the amount of dietary fibre (per 100 grams) in lunch samples had decreased by 19 per cent as compared with a similar survey in 2007.

     Also speaking at the ceremony, the Director of Health, Dr Constance Chan, said, "More than 70 ESRs are participating in the Coupon Promotion and it has received a very positive response."

     To assist the public to pick an ESR, the DH has just launched the Android version of the "EatSmart Restaurant" mobile app for downloading. The iOS version will also be available soon.

     The updated list of ESRs participating in the Coupon Promotion has been uploaded to the ESR thematic website and the mobile app. The public can now search for their desired ESRs via the thematic webpage or the mobile app.

     The coupons have been distributed to students of schools participating in the Joyful Fruit Month event in March. Students and their families with coupons can also learn more details on the Coupon Promotion and the use of coupons via the thematic webpage or the mobile app.
     
     In addition, the DH has also produced a new Announcement in the Public Interest in order to promote the EatSmart Restaurant campaign and its mobile app (www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dusFRjJ3zM).  

     To promote healthy eating habits, the EatSmart Restaurant campaign was launched by the DH in 2008. In this campaign, restaurants are encouraged to provide healthy "EatSmart dishes", giving the public more choices of a healthy nature. More than 670 restaurants have joined the campaign.

     The theme of Joyful Fruit Month this year is "Enjoy Fruit • Enjoy the Variety", which aims at encouraging students to consume various types of fruit.

     To echo the theme this year, the Facebook fan page of the Centre for Health Protection of the DH (fb.com/CentreforHealthProtection) will issue a series of "Fruit Posts" in April. The fan page will issue a post to introduce the nutrition value or fun facts of different types of fruits every day starting from April 1 for 30 days in a row. Members of the public are welcome to "Like" and share the fan page, and to follow the latest information.

     The DH launched the annual Joyful Fruit Day in the 2006/07 school year as one of the highlights of the EatSmart@school.hk Campaign to promote daily fruit eating habits among teachers and students.

     In 2013, the DH raised the profile of Joyful Fruit Day to Joyful Fruit Month to extend messages on promotion of fruit eating to the community. The DH is continuing to encourage all secondary, primary and pre-primary institutions to take part in activities to boost students' interest in fruit eating by designating April as Joyful Fruit Month. By doing so, it is hoped that the health of students can be improved in the long run.

     More information on the Joyful Fruit Month event is available at the EatSmart@school.hk Campaign website (school.eatsmart.gov.hk). For information on the EatSmart Restaurant campaign, please visit the thematic website (restaurant.eatsmart.gov.hk).

Ends/Monday, March 30, 2015
Issued at HKT 18:15

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