JUNK FOOD IN SCHOOLS

FOOD SEIZED
Parents were furious after dinner ladies seized sugary drinks and snacks from the lunchboxes of primary school pupils. Louanne Sproston said daughter Sinead, 10, was now lunching at home after having her Sunny D drink and chocolate replaced with water and fruit.

She said, "It is up to me what I want my child to drink and eat, not them." Head Bernadette Doherty, at Wharrier Street School in Newcastle, said, "This school should be applauded for what we are doing. This is for the benefit of the children."

UNHEALTHY LUNCH
Ten-year-old Ryan Stupples was dragged out of a school dining hall because his packed lunch was too unhealthy. He was forced to eat his lunch in the head teacher's office at Lunsford Primary School in Larkfield, Kent, because it failed to meet health guidelines.

The lunch, which included a ham sandwich, fruit, a piece of cake, a packet of mini cheese biscuits and a bottle of water, was banned because it contained two snacks. A letter was sent to parents at the beginning of term saying packed lunches must contain no more than two snacks. (Source: Daily Mail, Oct/06)

JUNK FOOD IN SCHOOLS

Burger Education Secretary Ruth Kelly announced that foods high in fat, salt or sugar are to be banned from meals and vending machines in English schools. Vending machines in schools will not be allowed to sell chocolates, crisps or fizzy drinks. "I am absolutely clear that the scandal of junk food served every day in school canteens must end," said Ms Kelly, "For example, meat products that are made from reconstituted meat slurry that bears no resemblance to the original product." But plans to raise the standard of school food will not benefit pupils in local authorities where there is no school meals service. Items to be banned include:

* Burgers and sausages from 'meat slurry' and 'mechanically recovered meat'
* Sweets including chewing gum, liquorice, mints, fruit pastilles, toffees and marsh mallows
* Chocolates and chocolate biscuits
* Snacks such as crisps, tortilla chips, salted nuts, onion rings and rice crackers

Banning the sale of junk food in school will not stop pupils eating it. Instead of buying fizzy drinks, crisps and sweets from the school vending machine, they will bring it in from home or local shops, said John Dunford, the general secretary of the Secondary Heads' Association. Over the years multi-national corporations have persuaded teachers to sell products in return for a share of the profits. Parents who complain are told that vending machines make between Ł10,000 and Ł30,000 a year for the school.

Britvic, which produces both fizzy and fruit based drinks, includes praise on its website from schools such as Woodkirk High School in Wakefield, where it has placed six vending machines. Schools built under private finance initiatives or which have taken out contracts with catering companies or the suppliers of vending machines may find themselves in legal difficulties over the Government's ban.

The Harry Carlton School in Nottingham, built by Alfred McAlpine, which has a contract to maintain it, was unable to remove the vending machines selling crisps and chocolate because it was under contract to the company and Nestle, its sub-contractors. It was told that it would have to compensate the company for loss of income if the machines were removed. A spokesman for McAlpine said that it was negotiating with the school over the products sold but that the income from the machines was part of its contract and was ploughed back into repairs and maintenance. (Source: The Telegraph)

Schools are to be banned from selling junk food and will give pupils seeds and yoghurt drinks in moves to tackle child obesity. Parents will also be issued with guidelines on food high in fat and sugar which should not be included in their children’s packed lunches. Nuts, seeds and yoghurt drinks will replace crisps, chocolate and fizzy drinks in tuck shops, after-school clubs and vending machines.

Children will be allowed to have milk, yoghurt drinks, water and fruit juices as well as tea, coffee and low-calorie hot chocolate. Crisps will be banned at all times, but cakes and biscuits will be allowed at lunch and in after-school clubs. The food and soft drinks industry is estimated to make Ł45 million a year from school vending machines. Schools are believed to make Ł2,500 a year per vending machine. (Source: Times Online, Mar/06)

Derby City Council has asked teachers to carry out random checks, twice a year, on pupils' lunchboxes as part of a healthy eating drive. The advice is contained in guidelines on packed lunches issued to all primary schools. The information gathered will be analysed and shared with parents. Teachers are being asked to check that lunchboxes do not contain foods deemed to be unhealthy, such as popcorn, chewing gum, fizzy drinks, crisps, chocolate spread as a sandwich filling, or sweets.

Foods said to be acceptable are bread or other cereals and potatoes, fruit and vegetables, milk and dairy and meat, fish or vegetarian alternatives. Chocolate bars, biscuits or lower fat variety of crisps "can be included on one day only during the week". Inspections would be carried out either for one day or over the period of a week. It is unlikely schools will write to parents about individual pupils but will send a general letter listing their findings.

The advice also says that drinks must be provided in lunchboxes and should include only either water, milk or low-fat milkshake, sugar-free juice drink or flavoured water or fruit juice. Recommended alternative foods include plain or fruit scone, malt loaf, cereal bar, mini pancakes or flapjack. The guidance also encourages variety and lots of vegetables. The council said a recent audit of packed lunches in schools showed that by far the largest proportion in lunchboxes was fatty and sugary. (Source: Derby Evening Telegraph, Mar/07)