Healthier, tastier school dinners are on the way as UK ministers this week made a promise to offer meals with more vegetables, fruit and fibre to millions of children.
The Department for Education published new rules governing the food served in the nation’s schools. This is the first update to England’s School Food Standards in over a decade.
The new standards mean no more deep-fried food, as well as limits to the number of days when cakes, sweet treats and processed meats, like bacon and sausages, are available. Cheese can only be served as a main ingredient up to twice per week.
From next year, all main meals must contain one or more portions of vegetables or salad, and some fruit and vegetables must be available at all mealtimes. Snacks must be fruit, vegetables, savoury crackers and breadsticks only.
“[A]fter 25 years of campaigning, today is a brilliant day,” said chef and child health campaigner Jamie Oliver, who first put the poor quality of school dinners in the spotlight 20 years ago.
With one in three children leaving primary school overweight or obese, and tooth decay linked to high-sugar diets remaining the leading cause of hospital admissions among children aged five to nine, the case for change is clear, the government said. “These are once-in-a-generation changes that will transform school food for children across the country,” added Education Secretary, Lucy Powell.
Rules set pulses racing
In the new rules, a portion of pulses (which doesn’t include baked beans) will also be served within or alongside all menu options on at least one day a week.
There are also changes to the availability of meat. The existing standards required that on three or more days per week the protein source needed to be meat. Under the new school standards, pulses like lentils and beans count towards this, giving schools the choice to serve more sustainable sources of protein. In fact, schools will have the option to move to 100% vegetarian meals under the new rules.
Plant-based proteins like pulses are often cheaper than meat, so can help schools deliver quality and variety, more fruit and veg and meet the other standards.
With support, UK farmers could make the most of this market and the standards could encourage farmers to diversify to produce more pulses, according to Ruth Westcott, Director of Campaigns at Foodrise. More UK farmers are growing pulses, but the majority end up in animal feed, so these standards and the millions spent on school catering offer an opportunity to grow the market.
An estimated 234 million portions of beans or pulses could be served every year under the new rules, which could open a market for “more environmentally friendly protein crops”, Westcott told Wicked Leeks. “Pulses like beans and peas require less than a third of the land of poultry or pork per 1,000 calories, so the move would benefit UK food security. The upcoming horticulture strategy is an opportunity to support farmers to access this market,” Westcott added.
The government’s analysis also shows the changes can be achieved in a nutritionally balanced manner. And by serving more beans and pulses, caterers can also secure cost savings that will enable them to trade up to higher welfare meat and dairy.
“The benefits extend to children, British farmers and farmed animals, as well as the environment. It was a no-brainer but still took a decade of lobbying to get the revision over the line,” said Rob Percival, Head of Food Policy at the Soil Association.
Soil Association Food for Life (FFL) has been trialling a more sustainable approach to school food for over a decade showing that ‘less and better’ meat and dairy works in practice, with an emphasis on whole foods and fresh preparation. Other successful schemes like the London Food Purchasing Commitment, and ProVeg’s School Plates, can be used as valuable templates for those needing to align with the new rules.
The school standards have been rigorously tested with schools, caterers and sample menus to make sure schools across the country will be able to provide exciting, healthy and nutritious meals that kids enjoy – from sweet chilli stir-fry, to lasagne, to chicken or veg curries.
Bite Back campaigner, Zainab (19), said: “I was in Year 10 when I joined Bite Back, and since then I’ve campaigned alongside other young people for better school food. Bite Back exists to make sure young people are heard on decisions affecting our health, so it means a lot to see the Government listening.”
Research by the youth-led campaign group, reported by Wicked Leeks in August, showed three in four publicly accessible secondary school menus did not comply with current 2014 School Food Standards. Recent polling found that 72% of parents support government measures to implement checks that ensure the incoming updated standards are being followed.
Indeed, food policy experts warned that introducing the new standards is only half the job – they must also be policed and adequately funded. Campaigners have called for a national mechanism to monitor and enforce compliance, with Ofsted providing oversight and transparent reporting. Schools will be expected to publish their food policies and menus online and nominate a school food governor, helping parents, pupils and communities understand and hold schools to account for the food on offer.
Writing on social media just ahead of the announcement, Naomi Duncan, Chief Executive at Chefs in Schools, said the new standards “should wipe out most of the crap on offer here menu-wise – if they are monitored and enforced properly. But it won’t be replaced with better quality unless we collectively, schools and industry, insist that this just isn’t good enough,” she added.
To help schools implement the new standards, the government will provide training, resources and guidance. The Department for Education will work with the Food Standards Agency on an approach to monitoring school food, with more details in the coming months.
Brad Pearce, National Chair of The School Food People, whose members span all those involved in providing school food, said: “As the new standards roll out, it is vital that we protect the strength and sustainability of the school food sector that will be responsible for delivering them. That means realistic funding, a practical and fully supported implementation plan, investment in the workforce and kitchens, and sufficient time for caterers and suppliers to adapt and reformulate products where necessary.”
Pearce added: “We must also keep a close eye on meal uptake. New revised mandatory school food standards, while very much welcome, can only actually improve children’s diets if pupils continue to choose school meals.”
Nearly £5bn is spent on public sector food, including at schools, annually. Westcott said the new school food standards are “actually the first set of standards for the public sector in the UK that stand a real chance of meaningfully improving the environmental impact of our diets”. The promised overhaul of the wider government buying standards is yet to fully materialise.
This month marks another pivotal moment across England as free school meals are expanded to 500,000 more children on Universal Credit.
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