OVER 1000 children have now taken part in the local Tesco store’s Farm to Fork Initiative.

The Alloa branch has been welcoming youngsters from across schools in the Wee County, as part of the nationwide project which is designed to teach them where their food comes from.

Farm to Fork champion, Ryan Hatley, explained: “The farm to fork initiative is a long term plan by Tesco to get kids into our stores to learn where their foods come from. It is fully funded by Tesco, including bus charges, and we have also recently added scouts into the initiative.

“The farm to fork trail is a visit to the bakery to learn how bread is made. A visit to produce to learn how and where our fruit and veg is grown, and we then visit the fish counter where they get to hold the fish and learn how and where it is caught, and then some cheese tasting.” Tuesday (24 February) brought some regular visitors, who have been dropping in on the store since October, with the children taking a trip to the pizza counter and on Wednesday (25 February) P3 youngsters from Clackmannan Primary School enjoyed new types of fruit during their trail.

On reaching the 1000-pupil milestone, Ryan said: “This is a landmark I am very proud to have reached and we have had nearly every school in Clackmannanshire at the store at some point.

“It has been done with the help from all colleagues across the store and support from Rob McLean, the store manager, and this initiative will continue.”