School meal revolution going from strength to strength

Official statistics released by the School Food Trust today show that school meal take-up has risen significantly.

Commenting on the results, Christine Haigh of the Children's Food Campaign said:

 “We are delighted to see more children and young people eating healthy school meals, and hope that the new coalition government will be congratulating all the schools, caterers and health campaigners that have worked so hard to show that children will eat healthy food as long as it is tasty and affordable.

“However, we are deeply concerned that many children are still missing out on the chance to benefit from healthy school meals.  We urge Education Secretary Michael Gove to reinstate the planned extension of free school eligibility to primary school children from low income working families living below the poverty line.

“We urgently need the new coalition government's support for school meals as they are a cost effective way of helping children to develop healthy eating habits, which will improve the nation's health and save money for the NHS in the long term.”

Ends

 For further information and interviews, please contact Jackie Schneider/Christine Haigh on 07795 213425 (Jackie) / 07870 577934 (Christine) or Jackie@sustainweb.org / Christine@sustainweb.org 

Notes to editors:

1. The Children's Food Campaign wants to improve children's health and well-being through better food - and food teaching - in schools, and protecting children from junk food marketing. We are coordinated by Sustain: the alliance for better food and farming, supported by over 150 national organisations and funded by the British Heart Foundation.
   
2. Official school meal take up figures were released today, and are available at http://www.schoolfoodtrust.org.uk/news-events/news/growing-appetite-for-healthy-school-food-in-england.  Data on the long term trends in school meal up-take is available at http://www.schoolfoodtrust.org.uk/news-events/news/school-food-trust-comment-on-the-impact-of-jamie-olivers-school-dinners
   
3. Just last week, Health Secretary Andrew Lansley provoked outrage after he criticised Jamie Oliver's campaign to improve school food.  For more information, see https://www.sustainweb.org/news/lansley_oliver_clash_july_2010/
   
4. A recent report from Ofsted showed that many low income families which are ineligible for free school meals struggle to afford the cost of school meals, with one example of a family in which siblings had to take it in turns to eat a school meal.  For more information, see http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/Ofsted-home/Publications-and-research/Browse-all-by/Documents-by-type/Thematic-reports/Food-in-schools
   
5. Education Secretary Michael Gove recently announced the cancellation of plans to ensure that all primary school children for working families living below the poverty line become eligible for free school meals.  For more information, see https://www.sustainweb.org/news/june10_free_school_meals_dropped and https://www.sustainweb.org/news/jun10_free_school_meal_letter.