10th Jul 2008 - 00:00
Abstract
Proof that the school meals improvement campaign is getting through to children was delivered today in the shape of the third annual survey of meals take up from the Local Authority Caterers' Association (LACA) and the School Food Trust (SFT).
Published at the LACA annual conference, which is ongoing today, the survey shows that the uptake of meals in England's primary schools has risen by 2.3%. Last year 88,000 more school meals were served per day in primary schools compared with the previous year. This is the first rise in figures since healthier school meals were introduced. Teenagers proved slightly more difficult with the uptake in secondary schools seeing a drop of 0.5%, equating to 38,000 fewer meals. Speaking about the results LACA Chair Sandra Russell explained what needs to be done going forward: "LACA is encouraged to see an upturn in Primary school meal numbers although continued decline in Secondary meal uptake is still of concern. We must all continue to work together to address the challenges of encouraging young people to eat more healthily. Part of this process has to be gaining closer working partnerships with Head Teachers to adopt a whole school policy." Within the last year, the spotlight has remained firmly on school meals and their nutritional content. LACA and the SFT have both thrown their weight behind many joint campaigns to raise awareness of the issues. The Million Meals initiative was launched last October by the SFT and has been a remarkable success. Judy Hargadon, Chief Executive of the SFT welcomed today's report but added that there is still work to be done: "This survey demonstrates that the huge effort that schools and caterers are putting in is beginning to succeed in changing the tastes and habits of a new generation of children. "However, while today scotches the myth that children will not eat healthy meals nobody should be fooled about the scale of the challenges ahead. Many teenagers still need a great deal of convincing and with rising food costs putting strain on the service this is a corner that needs to be turned as soon as possible." The full report will be available on LACA's and the SFT's website respectively in September 2008. Weblinks: www.laca.co.uk and www.schoolfoodtrust.org.uk