The education catering division of Birmingham City Council aims to do so through menu development, product replacement and a nutritional education programme.
The organisation, which serves around 60,000 school meals across the city, already provides children with low-sugar meals, in line with the 2013 School Food Plan, which set out actions to transform what children eat in schools and how they learn about food.
However, Cityserve’s head of service, Dale Wild, believes more can be done to lower the amount of ‘added sugar’ stocked by schools, in addition to that already contained in meals.
He said: “As part of a review of our school stock reports, we found that while some schools are managing their larders very well with less than half a dozen kilos of sugar ordered per year, others exceeded this, prompting the question ‘can we reduce our sugar usage in EVERY school?’
Cityserve’s plan comes just two months after the Soft Drinks Industry Levy came into effect. Money raised will contribute to funding for healthy school breakfast clubs.
Wild added: “While we comply with the School Food Plan, our motto is ‘It’s all about the kids’ and that means providing them with the healthiest, tastiest school meal in the marketplace.
“The Sugar Tax is already helping children across the country but it’s just one part of the story. It’s down to all of us to do our bit to reduce sugar consumption in schools and at Cityserve we see this as a logical step to making sure our children continue to be healthy and happy.”