MUMS and pregnant women who receive free milk worth £2.80 a week will be offered fruit, vegetables and cereal instead, under a new scheme to boost health.

The Government has unveiled plans to shake up the £142 million Welfare Food Scheme, which is little changed since its wartime introduction in 1940.

Under the scheme, hundreds of mothers of under-fives and pregnant women in less well-off parts of North Yorkshire receive tokens every week for seven

pints of milk or powdered formula.

But ministers fear the scheme fails to give mums or youngsters the nutrition they need and that it is a disincentive to breast feed.

Following a scientific review, they want to provide vouchers for a wider range of healthy foods, including fruit and vegetables, cereals, and foods suitable for weaning infants.

But critics immediately claimed the new scheme - to be called Healthy Start - would be open to fraud, with a black market developing in the fixed-price vouchers.

They warned the vouchers could be exchanged for less healthy milk or cereal products such as Sunny Delight and Coco Pops - or even cigarettes or cash.

But public health minister Hazel Blears insisted: "These proposals will help lay the foundations for the good health of future generations.

"People with low incomes suffer more ill-health. By improving the nutritional benefit of the scheme, and making healthy options easier options, we can help to reduce these unfair inequalities."

There were also fears that the new-look scheme would penalise the poor in rural areas, who would find it harder to reach shops where the vouchers could be used.

A total of 55,000 pregnant women and 808,000 mothers of under-fives, who are on income support or income-based job seekers' allowance, are covered by the existing scheme. The same number would be covered by Healthy Start, but they would be free to choose between milk products and other healthy foods.

Updated: 10:24 Friday, November 01, 2002