This all began in 2005 when Jamie Oliver began his campaign because he was appalled by the junk food being served at many schools in the UK. The resulting Jamie’s school dinners programme saw him struggle to persuade children to try dishes other than chips burgers and some other unhealthy foods. In the show ,he revealed how little was spent on pupils meals at some schools. The Feed me better campaign attracted two hundred and seventy one thousand, six hundred and seventy seven signatures of support for Jamie’s petition to improve the state of school meals, which was handed over to downing street. The television show ,which attracted millions of viewers, captured the imagination of parents and politicians alike and the campaign began to gather momentum. First of all MPs urged ministers to ban processed foods for school dinners, saying they were appalled that an average meal cost less than forty five pence to make, a quarter of the price of prison dinners.
Last year the government promised two hundred and eighty million pounds to improve school meals, following Mr Oliver’s campaign. The aim of this money is to ensure a minimum of fifty pence per head for school meal ingredients in primary schools and sixty pence in secondary schools. Although this funding has covered the cost of groceries the service has moved into a loss making position due to the decrease in the number of pupils eating school dinners and there is a clear danger that they may not recover.
Recently the government have made plans to make cooking lessons compulsory. This may cause a problem for many pupils as they are not able to spend as much time on more academic subjects such as English or Maths. This may also cause problems for parents who may struggle to find the extra cost of providing ingredients.
Chef Anthony Worrall Thompson has stated he believes that if the government are going to tackle this, they can’t just scratch the surface. He would like it to be one set meal on offer - no packed lunches - and maybe it would need to be free.
More than half of secondary school pupils buy treats equivalent to twenty blocks of butter and eleven bags of sugar during the course of a year.
A recent survey has shown that schoolchildren use the journey to and from school to fill up on junk food as the meal they are getting in school simply is not filling them up.
Irene Carroll, national chairman of the local Authority Caterers Association, said a key problem was that children were not being given healthy food by their parents. “Jamie hung his programme on school meals. It was a shame because school meals weren’t the real problem” she said.
Mrs Carroll added that another issue affecting school dinner take up was the shorter lunch breaks which give pupils no time to eat a full meal. Many schools have got thirty minutes and in some cases twenty five minutes at break times, but by the time the pupils have queued, much of their break time has gone leaving them no time to eat, ideally a meal and a desert.
So far the English authorities have been playing the main part in the switch, but plans have been made elsewhere in the UK. For instance, the Scottish Executive is also planning to ban junk food from schools and to create a law encouraging more pupils to eat school meals. Also in Wales, a working group on nutritional standards is due to publish a report next month, and Northern Ireland’s education department has put out proposals for public consultations.
This healthy switch is leading many children into almost a life of crime as many children are smuggling sweets, chocolate and fizzy drinks into school and selling them off around the school.
Now as the governments crackdown on unhealthy eating in schools “begins to bite”, those with an eye for a quick profit are hawking Mars Bars, Salt and Vinegar crisps and Coke, (the fizzy, sugary variety that is!). “Ring leaders” are buying bars of chocolate and packets of crisps in the bulk, and making small profits by selling on to sugar craving classmates. “You can get a good deal from the boys selling sweets” says a sixteen year old pupil from a school in south London.
She also said that even if the school started selling these foods again she would still buy from these boy as they are much cheaper, you have to think, sixteen year old boys are making profits whilst the school meals service has moved into a loss making organisation, surely something needs to be done.
In conclusion I believe to solve the problems that I have covered, many actions need to be taken.
Firstly, children should be given a choice of which meal they have but schools should encourage the healthier option by subsidising and making it cheaper. The benefits of this are that children no longer need to leave school premises putting themselves at risk as they are able to purchase everything whatever they choose at school. This would also help poorer families as their children would get a healthy balanced meal for a cheaper price.
Secondly, a free daily option of healthy food should be offered to encourage all children to just have a try. In addition make the healthy option more attractive, such as fruit smoothies or vegetarian hotdogs etc.
Also, I think breaks should be made longer so children have enough time to finish their meals.
And lastly, I feel that if we give the children a choice and encourage them with a healthy option they will eventually decide for themselves over a period of time rather than forcing an immediate change.
