(BRUSSELS) - European schoolchildren could soon receive free fruit and vegetables as part of an EU effort to keep them from becoming overweight, according to a European Commission proposal lodged Tuesday.

The proposed programme would use fruit and vegetables that would be otherwise taken off the market for destruction in order to maintain stable prices.

Its aim is to provide healthy snacks to fight the growing problem of overweight children, who are thought to number 22 million in the 27-nation bloc. Of that number, five million are considered obese.

It would be funded to the tune of 90 million euros (141 million dollars) each year for the purchase and distribution of the produce. Member states taking up the scheme are expected to provide matching sums, although poorer countries would not have to provide as much.

"Too many of our children eat far too little fruit and vegetables and often don't appreciate how delicious they are," EU Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel said in a statement.

"You only have to walk down any high street in Europe to see the extent of the problems we face with overweight kids," she added.

The EU's executive arm tried to launch the programme last year but had to postpone because it was unable to get the financing in place.

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