Asda is to launch a payment card designed to help parents ensure their children don't spend their lunch money on junk food.

The new Green Card is still at the development stage, but the plan is for parents to charge it Oyster Card-style with a monetary value and give it to their children with which to buy their lunch in Asda stores.

Kids will only be able to use the card to buy healthy food such as fresh fruit and vegetables. There would be no minimum or maximum charge value.

A spokesman for Asda said: "Parents won't have to worry that their children are spending their lunch money on crisps. We will be looking at it over the next few weeks and still have to put the systems in place in trial stores to enable the card to be used to buy the right items."

As yet, Asda had not decided which stores it would be trialled in.

The news comes less than a week after the government's ban on junk food in schools came into force. The spokesman said: "The card has been a long time in planning, but the recent government announcement on healthy food for schoolchildren has hastened it along."

The card could also be used by parents of students at university, as it will hold enough credit to buy a whole term's worth of healthy food.

"We can see a real relevance for the Green Card over and above the usual healthy eating for children message," said the spokesman.

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