Plea to shops on healthy eating

Shops in a Staffordshire are being urged to sign up to a scheme to help improve the diets of pregnant mothers and young families.

Community watchdogs from Staffordshire County Council will be on a mission throughout this month.

They will try to get food stores signed up to the national Healthy Start Scheme. Funded by the Department of Health, it was introduced in 2006 for low-income and teenage parents to replace the Welfare Food Scheme. Each eligible member of a family receives one or two vouchers a week.

Worth £3 each, the vouchers can be used to buy fresh milk, fresh fruit and vegetables or infant formula milk in stores which have registered to accept them.

The county council is keen to work with the Department of Health to encourage as many retailers as possible in Staffordshire to participate in the scheme and will be doing this with the help of their Community Watchdogs who will be working across the county.

Since January 2008, only half the retailers in Staffordshire who could be are registered to accept the Healthy Start vouchers with a particularly low participation rate from greengrocers, markets and petrol station shops.

County Councillor Susan Woodward, cabinet member for healthier communities said: "It is important that we get the message out there that any retailer who sells fresh milk, fresh fruit and vegetables or infant formula milk can participate in this scheme.

"This Department of Health initiative is essential in helping families who are at greatest risk of poor health to have a more balanced diet, which could have an impact on the development of their unborn chid as well as the longer term health of their children and themselves."

Any retailers in Staffordshire who are interested in participating in the scheme can call the Healthy Start Reimbursement Unit on 08707 201 668.