It is no secret that the nutrition of our children is in crisis. Rates of obesity are soaring unchecked, teachers are finding that children who have breakfasted on sugary drinks and snacks - or have had no breakfast at all - cannot concentrate in class and it has been found that children may be dehydrated at school.
Dietitians and other health care professionals have been raising concerns for some time; however it took the intervention of TV chef Jamie Oliver to create the necessary political will to address the situation.
From the Second World War up until 1980, local authorities had a statutory obligation to provide a midday meal for all pupils, which would meet up to half their protein requirements and a third of their energy requirements. After that time although most schools continued to provide meals, most opted for a cafeteria-style service - particularly at secondary school level - and many children started to bring packed lunches to school. The service became a cost and ‘consumer demand' led service. This in many cases led to a decrease in quality and an overemphasis on high fat options such as chips, chicken nuggets and - the now infamous - turkey twizzlers. Many of the young people who come to me for advice complain that healthy choices are few in number and limited in quantity.
From 2001, some nutritional standards were re-introduced. However, surveys show that while minimum nutritional standards for school lunches have been adopted, the associated ‘good practice' guidelines and the philosophy of attractive, nutritionally balanced meals have not been universally applied. As a result, further changes were proposed and the first phase of this came into force in September 2006. Final standards will be introduced in 2008 for primary schools and 2009 for secondary schools.
The School Food Trust was set up in 2005 with £15 million of funding from the Department for Education and Skills to promote the education and health of children and young people by improving the quality of food supplied and consumed in schools.
The School Food Trust advised Government ministers in August that schools should stop selling unhealthy foods and drinks throughout the school. Chair of the School Food Trust, Dame Suzi Leather said: ‘New food standards will improve school meals. But they cannot succeed if pupils are surrounded with chocolate, crisps and drinks that fill them up with sugar and fat during the school day. It's not in children's best interests to have unlimited access to these products, and they replace the consumption of more nutritious foods.'
Responding to the Government's nutritional standards for school meals earlier in the year, Kevin McKay, chairman of the Local Authority Caterers Association said: ‘There is no doubt that the introduction of these new Nutritional Standards is timely and the right thing to do. This is the best chance we have had for some time to help reverse the downward trend in children's diets and their long-term health but the Government must heed the realities facing school caterers in delivering such radical changes within a service that has suffered from 25 years of public policy neglect.' Caterers are also concerned that the £220 million pounds pledged will not be enough to pay for the extra ingredients, manpower and equipment.
As parents we can provide support with:
Finally a comment from Andrea Basu, a community development dietitian in North Wales - where similar initiatives apply: ‘Doing all we can to promote and encourage young people to adopt a healthy balanced diet is vital for protecting the health of our future generation. The new proposals coming from government focus on encouraging a ‘whole school approach' to food and nutrition. This means that young people will receive consistent messages about food in school; what is taught in the classroom with reflect what is served in the dining room and at break times and vice versa. As our schools work harder to promote good nutrition, parents also need to keep the momentum going by reinforcing the messages at home.'
Health Education Trust healthedtrust.com
School Food Trust schoolfoodtrust.org.uk
