It is ultimately designed to enable children to enjoy eating healthy diets, and to create a healthy eating culture within schools.

The Food Dudes are four young super-heroes: Charlie, Tom, Raz and Rocco. By eating their favourite fruit or vegetables, the Food Dudes gain special powers which enable them to save the world and the Life Force from a gang of baddies: The Junk Punks. General Junk and his side-kicks, Miss Demeanour and Master Disaster, are trying to drain the energy of the world by depriving it of nutritious fruit and veg. With their special powers, given to them by carrots, tomatoes, raspberries and broccoli, the Food Dudes feed the Life Force and foil the Junk Punks.

There are two main phases to the Programme:

Phase 1 is an intensive intervention which lasts 16 days. During this time, children are given fruit and vegetables while they are read a letter and/or watch a specially designed video of the Food Dudes. These super-heroes save the life force from a gang of baddies whose objective is to take away the energy of the world by depriving it of nutritious fruit and veg. Each day the children are rewarded with small prizes for successfully eating the fruit and veg. This phase is primarily school based, although children keep a diary of fruit and veg they have eaten at home.

Phase 2 extends the home element of the Food Dudes Programme by encouraging the children to bring their own fruit and veg to school everyday in special Food Dudes containers. Classroom wall charts are used to record progress, and children receive Food Dudes certificates and further rewards upon reaching goals. This phase maintains fruit and veg consumption in the longer term.