New Set Of Standards Announced For School Meals

A new set of standards for all food served in schools was launched by Education Secretary Michael Gove today.

The new standards are designed to make it easier for school cooks to create imaginative, flexible and nutritious menus. They will be mandatory in all maintained schools, and new academies and free schools.

Although the previous standards, introduced between 2006 and 2009, did much to improve school food, they were complicated and expensive to enforce. Cooks had to use a special computer program to analyse the nutritional content of every menu. Often, they ended up following 3-week menu plans sent out by centralised catering teams who would do the analysis for them. This meant they couldn’t be as flexible or creative as many would like.

In trials, the new standards proved extremely popular with school cooks, 90% of whom said they were easier to implement than the old standards. They also proved just as effective at delivering the energy and nutrients that growing children need. In fact, those secondary schools that trialled the new standards reported an increase in the consumption of vegetables, leading to higher fibre, folate, vitamin A and vitamin C intake.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said: "Every mum and dad knows that if you want your child to do well at school, and particularly to concentrate well in the classroom in the afternoon, a healthy meal at lunchtime is vital.

"If you speak to heads, teachers and cooks about the school meals they provide, they want to be given a little bit more freedom to make their own choices.

"The revised school food standards will allow schools to be more creative in their menus. They are easier for schools to understand and crucially they will continue to restrict unhealthy foods to ensure our children eat well."

The new standards include:

• 1 or more portions of vegetables or salad as an accompaniment every day

• at least 3 different fruits, and 3 different vegetables each week

• an emphasis on wholegrain foods in place of refined carbohydrates

• an emphasis on making water the drink of choice:

• limiting fruit juice portions to 150mls

• restricting the amount of added sugars or honey in other drinks to 5%

• no more than 2 portions a week of food that has been deep fried, batter coated, or breadcrumb coated

• no more than 2 portions of food which include pastry each week

Mr Gove said: "These new food standards will ensure all children are able to eat healthy, nutritious meals at school.

"We now have a clear and concise set of food standards which are easier for cooks to follow and less expensive to enforce. Crucially we have achieved this without any compromise on quality or nutrition."

(CVS/CD)