Eat better Do better

A new set of standards for all food served in schools was launched in June by former Education Secretary Michael Gove. They are designed to make it easier for school cooks to create imaginative, flexible and nutritious menus. They will be mandatory in all maintained schools, and new academies and free schools.

Although the previous standards, introduced between 2006 and 2009, did much to improve school food, they were complicated and expensive to enforce. Cooks had to use a special computer programme to analyse the nutritional content of every menu. Often, they ended up following three‑week menu plans sent out by centralised catering teams who would do the analysis for them. This meant they couldn’t be as flexible or creative as many would like.

The work to create these new standards was led by Susan Jebb, Professor of Diet and Population Health at Oxford University. The expert panel of cooks, teachers, caterers and dieticians that oversaw the drafting was chaired by Henry Dimbleby, co-author with John Vincent of The School Food Plan. The standards will become a legal requirement for schools from January 2015.

TRIALLING THE NEW STANDARDS
In trials, the new standards proved extremely popular with school cooks, 90 per cent of whom said they were easier to implement than the old standards. They also proved just as effective at delivering the energy and nutrients that growing children need. In fact, those secondary schools that trialled the new standards reported an increase in the consumption of vegetables, leading to higher fibre, folate, vitamin A and vitamin C intake.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said: “Every mum and dad knows that if you want your child to do well at school, and particularly to concentrate well in the classroom in the afternoon, a healthy meal at lunchtime is vital.

“If you speak to heads, teachers and cooks about the school meals they provide, they want to be given a little bit more freedom to make their own choices.

“The revised school food standards will allow schools to be more creative in their menus. They are easier for schools to understand and crucially they will continue to restrict unhealthy foods to ensure our children eat well.”

WHAT THE NEW STANDARDS INCLUDE
The new standards include one or more portions of vegetables or salad as an accompaniment every day. It includes at least three different fruits, and three different vegetables each week, as well as an emphasis on wholegrain foods in place of refined carbohydrates. There is also a focus on making water the drink of choice by limiting fruit juice portions to 150mls, and restricting the amount of added sugars or honey in other drinks to five per cent.

The standards limit food that is deep fried, batter coated, or breadcrumb coated to no more than two portions a week, and there should be no more than two portions of food which include pastry each week.

CLEAR AND CONCISE
Education Secretary Michael Gove said: “These new food standards will ensure all children are able to eat healthy, nutritious meals at school.

“We now have a clear and concise set of food standards which are easier for cooks to follow and less expensive to enforce. Crucially we have achieved this without any compromise on quality or nutrition.

“There has been a great deal of progress in providing healthy school meals in recent years and these new standards will help deliver further improvements.”

Henry Dimbleby, co-author with John Vincent of The School Food Plan, said: “The previous standards did a lot of good in removing the worst foods from children’s diets. But when we were writing The School Food Plan we met lots of wonderful cooks who felt restricted by them.

“There was a very talented Asian cook, for example, who was exasperated at having to follow the council’s three‑week menu plan of shepherd’s pie and fish and chips, when her pupils – most of whom were also Asian – would have much preferred naan bread and a curry.

“Other cooks complained that having to plan menus so far in advance meant they couldn’t make the most of cheap, high‑quality, seasonal produce. These standards will preserve the nutritional gains that have already been made in school food, while allowing greater flexibility.”

CUTTING DOWN ON PROCESSED FOOD
Susan Jebb, Professor of Diet and Population Health, University of Oxford said: “We know that children are continuing to eat too much saturated fat, sugar and salt. It is vital that the food children are offered in schools is nutritious and helps them to learn about the basics of a healthy diet.

“The pilots we ran were very encouraging and clearly enabled cooks to develop nutritionally balanced menus. We saw a real boost in the variety of vegetables offered, helping to increase intakes of fibre and essential nutrients.

“The new standards and supporting guidance include clear information on appropriate portion sizes to help achieve similar results and promote good practice across all schools.”

EATING BETTER, DOING BETTER
Children’s Food Trust Head of Nutrition Dr Patricia Mucavele said: “We support all steps that help more children eat better and therefore do better, so we were pleased to be involved in the development and testing of these new standards.

“The new standards are based on recommendations made by the School Food Plan Standards Expert Panel which commissioned the Children’s Food Trust to pilot test them.

“They follow general public health eating guidance, encouraging schools to provide a wide range of foods across the week. Variety is key – for example the standards include the need to provide at least three different fruits and three different vegetables each week, and one or more wholegrain varieties of starchy food such as wholegrain bread and pasta. Offering a wider range of different foods provides a better balance of nutrients.

“The standards continue to restrict foods high in fat, sugar and salt, and the supporting practical guidance gives more advice about portion sizes and how to choose foods lower in fat, saturated fat, sugar and salt as well as how to interpret food labels.”

“We tested the new standards with the people who would be using them – school caterers and cooks. They told us the new standards were easier and more intuitive to use to plan interesting and creative menus, which has got to be great news for children and school food.

“These new standards will be mandatory from January and will apply to all new academies and free schools, which is a step in the right direction. We’re now looking forward to seeing all schools in England using them, helping to ensure every child benefits.”

SUPPORT FROM EARLY CAMPAIGNERS
Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, who raised awareness of the nutritional importance of school food, has also showed his support for the new standards. His past TV series Jamie’s School Dinners was a great success and the support from the British public led the British government to commit £60 million to the school food system as well as placing a ban on processed junk food in all UK schools. Jamie Oliver said of the new standards: “Anything which makes it easier for school cooks to get tastier, nutritious food on the plate at school lunch time has to be welcomed and the new School Food Standards guide does that. There’s also built-in flexibility which is massively important. School cooks are on the frontline in the fight against diet-related disease in my view so it’s vital that they get support. For me, these mandatory minimum standards are so important if we’re going to truly protect the next generation.”

Annabel Karmel MBE, leading children’s food expert and well-regarded parenting author, said: “With almost 20 per cent of children deemed obese by the time they leave primary school at age 11, healthy eating must become commonplace in the daily school routine. But the food has to be tasty too, and the new School Food Standards provides more flexibility to enable school cooks to use their creativity to prepare healthy, delicious meals using seasonal fresh produce. The nutritional guidelines are far easier for schools to understand and follow, without being restricted by stringent computer program analysis.

“As part of the Small Schools Taskforce, a national initiative which aims to ensure that all small schools have the right menus and kitchen equipment to be able to offer a viable service, I’ve witnessed the huge benefits that a hot, healthy meal can have on classroom performance. I’ve used my 25 years of experience in feeding children to help design healthy menus that taste great – and that’s been the challenge up until now, particularly in small schools that have limited kitchen facilities. Children are more adventurous than they are often given credit for – but it boils down to quality, taste and presentation; and even the fussiest of eaters are already enjoying my Hidden Vegetable Bolognese and Chicken Fajitas.”

OTHER ACTIONS
The revision of school food standards is just one of a number of actions that the government is implementing based on the recommendations of ‘The school food plan’, which aims to improve the food that is served in schools and the broader food culture in schools. Other actions that are being implemented include putting cooking into the curriculum. From September, cooking and food education will be an entitlement for all children in key stages 1 to 3.

There will be two flagship boroughs in London to demonstrate the impact of improving school food on a large scale providing £11.8 million to help schools increase take up of good school food providing £3.15 million to help schools set up breakfast clubs.

The plan also included introducing free school meals for all infants (more detail below), training headteachers in food and nutrition, and Ofsted inspectors are to consider behaviour and culture in the dining hall, and the way a school promotes healthy lifestyles.

FREE SCHOOL MEALS FOR INFANTS
From September 2014 all children in reception, year 1 and year 2 in state-funded schools in England will receive free school meals.

The free school meals are being funded by the Government’s Universal Infant Free School Meals programme – announced in January – through which £150 million is being given to schools to help them upgrade their kitchens and cope with the increased demand and £2.30 will be spent on each meal.

For many schools providing free school meals for all infant children from September could be a challenge. A common concern is how schools will manage the increased number of children eating school meals; perhaps because they don’t have a kitchen or inadequate kitchen facilities, or their dining room is not big enough.

As such the Children’s Food Trust’s and LACA, the Local Authority Caterers Association, have provided a new advice service to provide schools with the support they need to develop and improve their catering facilities.

At a recent conference, Schools Minister David Laws announced that 99 per cent of schools now have a plan on how to deliver universal infant free school meals this September. He said “Through local authorities and the support service, I have been tracking the progress schools towards meeting this important commitment.

“And I can announce that based on evidence from local authorities, schools and the support service, over 99 per cent of schools now have a plan in place to deliver universal free school meals in September.

“We are aware of fewer than 100 schools which still need further work to devise a delivery strategy, and the department and the support service are now working through, school by school, to offer support and ensure all schools are on track to deliver at the start of term.”

ACADEMIES
All academies established prior to 2010 already have clauses in their funding agreement that require them to comply with the national standards for school food. The Department for Education has recently published revised funding agreements for new academies and free schools, which include the requirement to follow the school food standards. Academies created from June 2014 onwards will also have to follow the new food standards.

Academies founded between 2010 and June 2014 have no such clause written in their agreement, but are being encouraged to sign up voluntarily to the national school food standards. They can do so at www.schoolfoodplan.com/school-food-standards. Hundreds of academy schools, including the largest academy chains, have already done so. Many academy caterers also hold the Food for Life Catering Mark which also guarantees compliance with the school food standards.

Survey evidence suggests that the vast majority of academies will sign up to the new food standards voluntarily. The School Food Trust wrote to more than 1,500 existing academies in January 2012, asking them to indicate whether or not they were committed to following the national school food standards. Six hundred and forty-one replied, of which 635 confirmed that they were committed to following the standards.

A WORD FROM THE CHEFS
Giving the last word to a school chef, Tony Mulgrew, BBC Cook of the Year and school chef at Ravenscliffe High School said of the new standards: “This is a great opportunity for all school chefs to showcase their skills – for example, writing their own menus for their students and schools, and having the flexibility to use only the best quality and local produce when designing menus.”

FURTHER INFORMATION
www.gov.uk