Jamie Oliver’s campaign against fast food in schools cost £500million to taxpayers and resulted in fewer pupils eating school lunches, it emerged yesterday. More than half of primary pupils and around two-thirds of secondary school youngsters are still rejecting the well known television chef’s healthier menus it was revealed.
After Oliver began his campaign for better quality school dinners, the Government banned junk food from school canteens. Strict nutritional guidelines were made compulsory in primary schools in 2008, and the same policy was introduced in secondaries in 2009. The meals were needed to contain 14 nutrients, a vegetable and a piece of fruit – were introduced in 2006 after Oliver highlighted the poor state of many school lunches. They replaced the notorious ‘Turkey Twizzlers’ as well as burgers, chips and pizzas with pasta, fresh vegetables and fish. Some £500million was earmarked by ministers between 2005 and 2011 to improve the quality of food, kitchens and dining rooms.
But although the number opting for a school lunch has risen since 2008, it is still below the level of uptake prior to Oliver’s intervention. Official figures showed an average of 44.1 per cent of children in English primary schools and 37.6 per cent of those in secondaries opted for school meals this year. In 2004, 44.9 per cent of pupils at both primary and secondary level opted for the meals. According to data, the take-up however has increased over the past 12 months, rising by 2.7 percentage points among under-11s and 1.8 percentage points for older pupils.
The School Food Trust, which published the data, said more than 3 million pupils were now eating canteen food – an increase of 173,000 in a year. Numbers are up despite a 3 per cent rise in the cost of meals, it was revealed. The average school dinner now costs £1.93, an increase of 5 per cent in one year.
Rob Rees, the trust’s chairman, said, “If we’re going to keep school meal numbers rising, we have to keep healthy school meals affordable. That means helping schools to grow their market, to get the best deals for their food supplies and services, to protect their kitchens and dining rooms and to operate their catering services efficiently. With more children registering for free school meals, we’ve also got to make sure that we continue to encourage more children to take them up. At a time when funding is so tight everywhere, good school food is a solid investment in children’s learning and health.”
Sandra Russell, chairman of the Local Authority Caterers Association, said more pressure must be put on headmasters to increase the uptake of healthy lunches. She said, “The messages about the important contribution school meals can make to a child’s learning ability and physical performance are, hopefully, getting through. However, we must continue to persuade head teachers about the benefits of adopting a whole school approach to healthy eating.”
Children's Minister Sarah Teather said, “Healthy eating has a direct impact on behaviour, concentration and ability to learn in schools, so these are hugely encouraging figures - the fastest year-on-year rise in take-up since junk food was banned and tough nutritional standards were introduced.”
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