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School caterers across
Britain have been praised
for the ‘remarkable
achievement’ of
encouraging pupils
to eat more fruit and veg.
A wider choice of healthier meals,
containing less salt, fat and sugar, is
transforming children’s eating habits,
says a study.
Acknowledging there is “still a lot to
do”, School Food Trust chief executive,
Judy Hargadon, said: “Caterers across
the country deserve an enormous pat
on the back for the huge shift in what’s
being offered to children and for all
they’ve done to encourage pupils
to give healthier choices a try.
“The challenge for us all is to continue
supporting schools to create the
compliant menus they need, whilst
still being creative to tempt even more
children to give school lunch a try.
“The figures certainly show that there’s
still a lot of work to do, both in fully
meeting the standards across the board
and in encouraging children to eat
what’s on their plate, but everyone
involved with school food in primary
schools can feel very proud of what’s
been achieved so far.”
A SFT study examined what was taken
and eaten by 6,696 children from a
nationally representative sample of 136
primary schools between February and
April last year.
The results were compared with data
collected five years ago, and revealed
74 per cent of pupils are now taking
servings of vegetables and salad with
their lunch, compared with 59 per cent
in 2005.
Schools minister, Diane Johnson,
echoed the SFT’s praise of school
kitchen staff adding: “We want to make
sure children are eating a healthy,
nutritious lunch at school because we
know this helps their concentration
and behaviour in the classroom.
“Making sure children get a portion of
fruit and vegetables each day and the
right amounts of fat, salt and sugar, is a
vital step towards reversing childhood
obesity and protecting their health.
“School cooks, lunchtime supervisors
and caterers should be congratulated
for the efforts and keep up the
good work.”
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