School holiday kids' meals fail to meet standards

The findings show that parents taking their children on school holiday outings will be offered meals which are in excess of the recommended kids' guidelines for fat, saturated fat, salt and sugar. Environmental health and trading standards officers from councils across the UK took part in the survey, testing 397 different meals for 7-10 year olds from 220 activity centres including theme parks, wildlife parks, museums, leisure centres, heritage sites and outdoor farm parks. Council regulatory services body LACORS, which coordinated the survey, has criticised the fact that none of the meals complied with the School Food Trust recommendations for healthier food that would help tackle Britain's growing child obesity problem. On average, meals for children at theme parks had more total fat, saturated fat, protein and salt than wildlife parks, museums, leisure centres, heritage sites and outdoor farm parks. It also found that the region with the highest amounts of fat, saturated fat, sugar and salt of the six tested was the East Midlands. The report called for: • Offering 'healthy option' meals alongside current menu option so that parents can have the choice of what they feed their children • The removal of additional salt – such as shakers or sachets – as the food already contains at least the recommended amounts • The advertisement of free drinking water alongside soft drink options • A reduction in the amount of deep fat or fried foods offered by leisure venues • Further practical guidance for leisure businesses on supplying healthy options to be developed in partnership Cllr Geoffrey Theobald OBE, chairman of LACORS, said: "Every meal that contains extra salt or extra fat produces a dependence and reliance on the same kinds of food for the rest of a child's life. It is vital that we do not stand by and do nothing while an entire generation of children becomes addicted to unhealthy food because of a lack of choice. There are no easy answers but unless action is taken by producers, marketing and advertising companies and the outlets that sell this food Britain will continue its slide towards the unwanted title of fat capital of the world."