A CHARITY that sells fruit and vegetables is to change its policy on selling grapes to schoolchildren after a toddler choked to death in a restaurant last month.

Healthy Living Blackburn operates a mobile fruit and veg van nicknamed OLLY throughout Blackburn and Darwen.

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The van visits schools, housing estates, sheltered housing and community centres, providing easy access to cheap, fresh produce.

The change in policy comes after two-year-old Jacob Jenkins choked on the fruit in a Pizza Hut restaurant in Hartlepool, County Durham, on October 9.

Healthy Living issued a customer service announcement earlier this week after discussions with a primary school head teacher.

It said: “In light of the recent tragic accident where a child choked on a grape, we have today been asked by the head at Longshaw Infant School that any grapes purchased must be taken home to eat where they can be cut in half and eaten under adult supervision.

“We totally support this request and will be advising parents as such with any future sale of grapes at both of our school stops at Longshaw and Shadsworth infant schools, as well as at any stop where we are aware that grapes are intended for a child to consume.”

Following the tragedy, Pizza Hut in Mayson Street, Blackburn, will no longer serve grapes on its menu.

The decision to remove grapes been rolled out across the UK by Pizza Hut officials.

Jacob was put in an induced coma at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle but his parents decided to turn off his life support machine on October 14 after further tests.