BMJ investigation exposes unhealthy food products at major UK school catering exhibition

As the government prepares to introduce updated school food standards, an investigation by The BMJ finds that more than a third of the firms exhibiting at the UK's biggest school food show sell products high in fat, sugar or salt (HFSS).

In total, 52 of the 137 companies with stands at The School Food People Show and Forum in Birmingham last month supply items including hot dogs, pizza, muffins and fizzy drinks.

They included two specialist hot dog firms, a Belgian waffle maker and others selling cakes, cookies and muffins. There were also cans of soft drink – promoted as being "school compliant" – with more than half a day's sugar allowance.

There were also seven wholesalers selling chocolate bars, crisps, and sweets, five ice cream firms, four soft drinks companies, and other suppliers that make items including pizzas, cake mixes and vending machines with confectionery.

What's more, The BMJ has discovered that the main trade group for school food caterers, which organises the show, is sponsored by firms supplying pizzas, cakes, waffles and ice cream.

The findings come as the government plans to introduce new school food standards that will limit HFSS foods and replace them with healthier options and more fruit and veg.

The show is billed as the only national event "dedicated solely to school food." It attracts over 1,000 catering industry delegates annually and provides a "platform" for suppliers to show-off their products, build relationships with school caterers, and network for new contracts.

Greg Fell, president of the Association of Directors of Public Health and director of public health for Sheffield City Council tells The BMJ: "What gets marketed is what gets sold and if those kinds of trade shows are an indicator of what goes into the school meals' process and system, then we're perpetuating an obesogenic environment."

Marie Murphy, assistant professor of child and adolescent nutrition at the University of Birmingham said the findings were "shocking" and "clearly go against school food standards."

D'Arcy Williams, chief executive of the youth activist food charity Bite Back, says the findings "expose a pretty extraordinary contradiction: at the very moment we're preparing to raise the bar on school food, too much of the industry surrounding our schools is still promoting the same unhealthy products we're trying to move away from."

Experts tell The BMJ that one of the problems facing caterers is that items such as chocolate bars, muffins and fizzy drinks have some of the highest profit margins and highest sales, enabling catering firms to make up for the losses on nutritious plated meals that are more expensive to produce and less popular.

Under the government's proposed new standards, due to take effect in primary schools from September 2027 and in secondary schools from September 2028, deep-fried foods would be banned altogether and items such as pizza and sausage rolls limited to twice a week, with ice cream and cookies limited to once a week.

But the government has not confirmed how it will monitor whether schools are complying with the new rules, and catering firms are concerned that pupils will reject the healthier meals and bring in packed lunches full of snacks.

Fell argues "we're perpetuating an environment where childhood overweight and obesity is the norm" and warns that "society will have to pay the consequences of that, 20, or 30, or 40 years down the line."