The Birmingham-based company provides more than 50,000 school meals every day at schools across the West Midlands. The reduction of sugar by Cityserve is equivalent to 750,000 teaspoons of sugar.
The reduction in sugar was achieved by using lower-sugar recipes, limiting the use of tomato ketchup and using fruit & vegetables as replacements for some products.
Brian Cape, head of service for Cityserve, said: “We’re overjoyed to have managed to remove such a large amount of sugar from the meals we serve to children. We’ve managed to do this without compromising on flavour or quality, but by carefully tweaking the way we do things to cut out any unnecessary sugar.
“We’ve always been ambitious with our sugar reduction targets and are pleased with our progress. This is an ongoing challenge and we’re going to continue to do whatever we can to make sure we’re feeding children across the West Midlands with the healthiest, tastiest meals possible.”
Cityserve already provides children with low-sugar meals to meet the 2013 School Food plan, which ‘transformed’ school dinners.
The Cityserve reduction campaign coincides with Sugar Smart’s Septmeber Challenge which encourages UK families and schools to reduce their sugar intake.
The initiative aims to tackle the sugar crisis as one in four children enter primary school either obese or overweight and one in three enter secondary school overweight.
Cape added: “Ignoring the risks that come with consuming too much sugar isn’t an option and we see it as our duty to do our bit to help reduce the amount of unnecessary sugar consumed by children and in turn endeavour to help reduce obesity, diabetes and other health issues in the next generation.”