Health charities urge government to adopt new standards and policies for better school food
22 June 2005
New Nutrient-based standards for school food for England and Wales are being launched today (Thursday 23 June) by the Caroline Walker Trust (CWT) and National Heart Forum (NHF). The report proposes stringent nutrient-based standards for all food in schools which are based on up-to-date scientific evidence and nutritional advice. The launch is timed to coincide with the government's current review of school meals which follows in the wake of Jamie Oliver's Feed me Better school food campaign and the announcement of an additional £280 million government investment in school food.
Evidence collected by the Food Standards Agency in 2004 showed that current national nutritional standards are failing to alter pupil's eating habits in a healthy direction. The two health charities are calling on the government to make the nutrient-based standards launched today the basis for new statutory requirements in all schools in England and Wales.
While CWT and NHF welcome the government's new commitment to improving food in schools, they argue that there remains a need for clear, independent advice on food in schools and standards that are both nutrient-based and food-based, detailed monitoring of their implementation and effectiveness, and partnership working throughout the education system to promote eating well.
Jane Landon, associate director of the National Heart Forum, says: "Jamie Oliver's campaign dramatically exposed the woeful inadequacy of current minimum standards for school food in England and Wales and triggered a welcome but long-overdue rethink about what we feed children in schools. If we seriously mean to tackle the crisis in children's eating and diet-related ill-health, nutritional standards for school food must be raised to a meaningful benchmark; one which is scientifically based on what we know about the nutritional needs of growing children. To achieve the sort of transformation of the school food service seen in Scotland, these standards must be supported by a range of wider reforms to overhaul catering practices and restrict processed food." She concludes: "Parents, schools, caterers and the government all recognise the problems; we believe these standards provide the proper tools to fix the problem. Anything less will be tinkering."
The challenge to reform the food service in our schools is a formidable one, according to Joe Harvey, chair of the Caroline Walker Trust. "For far too long we have worked on the objective of seeing how cheaply we could provide food in schools rather than setting the appropriate quality standards, costing them and providing the funding accordingly. These new standards not only update the previous ones but add a strong dimension in terms of accompanying recommendations on policy and infrastructure. Nutritional standards have to apply to the service throughout the day and be consistent with the taught curriculum they must be applied not just to the midday meal but to breakfast, break time, after-school care and vending operations. The standards must be able to translate into appropriate, attractive menus, providing children with a practical education in healthy eating which is enjoyable and which they will carry forward into their lives as future parents."
He emphasises: "This process will require a considerable investment in time, product, equipment, facilities and training, but most of all it will require a political commitment all the way from government to governors to deliver a food service for children that we can all be proud of."
The launch take place 11.45am - 1.00pm on Thursday 23 June 2005, at the Charles Dickens Primary School, Lant Street, London, SE1 1QP. (Nearest tube, Borough). Lunchtime in the school dining hall.
The authors of the report will be available for interview, as will the head teacher, children and dinner ladies on the day. Journalists are invited to have lunch in the dining room with members of the School Council (24 children) to find out what they think of school food.
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Notes to editors
1. Nutrient-based standards for school food is a summary of an in-depth report Eating Well at School: Nutritional and Practical Guidelines which will be published by the Caroline Walker Trust (CWT) and the National Heart Forum (NHF) in September 2005. Eating Well at School updates and expands the first expert report of the CWT Nutritional Guidelines for School Meals (1992) which has been widely used as the definitive document for nutrient-based standards for school meals and which are now the basis of the statutory standards for school meals in Scotland.
2. The production of Nutrient-based standards for school food has been part-funded by the Department of Health.
3. The new 'Nutrient-based school food guidelines' summary is available as a PDF.