Packed lunches do not meet nutritional standards set for school meals, claims survey

12th January 2010, 11:41am

Half of UK schoolchildren are eating food that doesn't meet the nutritional standards set for school meals in England, a study of packed lunches has revealed.

The research for the Food Standards Agency shows that parents are filling lunchboxes with crisps, sweets, and sugary drinks rather than fruit and vegetables at the same time as the Government has introduced strict nutritional standards for school meals.

A team of researchers from Leeds University examined the lunchboxes of 1,300 schoolchildren and has just published their findings in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

The results are significant because half of UK schoolchildren bring in a packed lunch each day. The children in the study were aged between eight and nine and all took a packed lunch to school at least one day a week, with almost 90% eating a packed lunch every day.

Leeds University lead researcher Charlotte Evans said over a quarter of the children had a packed lunch containing sweets, savoury snacks, and sugary drinks - things banned under rules on healthy prepared meals for local authority schools in England, which started to come into force in 2006.

Only one in five packed lunches contained any vegetables or salad, and even though half the children were provided with fruit, it was the least likely food in their boxes to be eaten, while confectionery was nearly always eaten.

Only 1.1% of the children's packed lunches met all the required nutritional standards for school meals, which include keeping the contents low in fat and salt and high in essential vitamins and nutrients.

She said: "It reflects the typical diet of the whole population. Most adults would also have crisps or a chocolate bar and not enough fruit or veg in their lunchbox.

"There are many initiatives going on to improve our diet and exercise, but change won't happen overnight and banning certain foods from lunchboxes could backfire.

"We've seen it with sweets, when schools have banned them. The children end up bringing more cakes and biscuits with them instead."

Prue Leith, who chairs the School Food Trust, said she was not surprised by the findings, which chimed with other research.

"I feel for parents because when you're packing a lunchbox it's almost impossible to resist the temptation to include a treat. It's a way of showing your love.

"But we're trying to educate children about healthy eating and I'm sure they get plenty of chocolate and cakes at home, so what I'd like to see is not a ban but school's adopting healthy lunchbox policies.

"I think parents would actually prefer a school rule on this because it makes it easier to explain to their children why there are no crisps and cakes."

Related Articles:

• 24 Sep 2008 - £40m package announced for free school meals
• 16 Jul 2008 - School takes 'radical' step of banning lunchboxes
• 01 Jul 2008 - Nutritionist advises kids on healthy lunchboxes

Click here to submit a comment!

Verner Wheelock

12 January 2010 at 4:18pm

If we examine the evidence it is clear that it is time we stopped worrying about the nutritional quality of the food children eat at lunch time. The latest National Health Survey for England found that the health of school children was rated as good/very good for 94%. There has actually been an improvement since the Survey was started in 1995. These results demonstrate that there is no basis for the current concern about the health and diet of school children. As a consequence the Government has introduced standards to control the nutritional content of school lunches. It has also established the School Food Trust to assist with the implementation of these standards. This is a typical example of how the Government responds to media hype and completely ignores it’s own research.

Verner Wheelock

12 January 2010 at 4:22pm

In my opinion there is no need for: • The nutritional standards which have created enormous problems for school caterers who are now required to keep detailed records of the food and ingredients used in the preparation of school lunches and then calculate the nutritional composition • The School Food Trust which is just a waste of public money and a quango that should be top of the list for the chop • Statements from Prue Leith and others instructing parents what they should be feeding their children Even if there is a problem with the nutrition of children it will certainly not be addressed by concentrating on school lunches which account for less than 20% of the total food intake, allowing for holidays and weekends.

Dora Rivas, RD, SNS

12 January 2010 at 7:41pm

As President of the School Nutrition Association, I know this problem is not unique to the United Kingdom. In the United States, research also shows the average packed lunch fails to meet nutritional standards for meals provided under the National School Lunch Program. In fact, a recent study found home-packed lunches contain more sodium, less vitamin A, calcium, iron and fiber than school lunches and not enough calories to keep unhealthy snacking tendencies at bay (See http://schoolnutrition.org/Content.aspx?id=13232). Parents should know that school lunches provide healthy food choices at affordable prices, and these meals include the fruits, vegetables and dairy that children need to succeed in school and at home.

Tom Seery School catering Consultant

03 February 2010 at 2:27pm

The imposition of nutritional standards has not resulted in a surge in demand. In many European countries packed lunches are not an option. If your child doesn't want what's on the menu then he/she must go home. No choice - literally. Every child sits and eats the same meal. No pandering. Result a slimmer and more integrated society! Given that the UK would find it difficult to turn back the clock then the focus should be on the price mechanism. Not meals for free - but an easily collected "Quid a meal" to cover food and overhead costs. £1 should be the national price for a school meal. This should be followed with a phased abolition of home packed lunches unless they conform. For a £1 a meal most parents would simply throw the towel in!

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