Revolution or Realisation

In June last year, the then Secretary of State for Education, Michael Gove, announced the introduction of a new set of standards concerning the food served in schools, that would replace the incentives put in place between 2006 and 2009 by chef Jamie Oliver. The new standards, collected under the banner of the ‘School Food Plan’, is an incentive orchestrated by John Vincent and Henry Dimbleby of the Leon restaurant chain, to further improve school children’s diets, through the nutrition and the taste of the food available.

Restrictions on creativity
Vincent and Dimbleby claim that the new government measures are less restrictive on school cooks who are entitled to more freedom when it comes to preparing and cooking school meals. Dimbleby highlighted how the ‘previous standards did a lot of good in removing the worst foods from children’s diets’ but admitted to having met with many ‘wonderful cooks who felt restricted by them’.
    
Furthermore, the need to plan meals so far in advance has limited cooks, as they were unable to ‘make the most of cheap, high‑quality, seasonal produce’. Oliver himself has been a spokesman for the role of school canteen cooks, detailing them as being ‘on the frontline in the fight against diet-related disease’. 90 per cent of school cooks have said that the new standards were easier to implement than the older principles.
    
Now, once again, the standard of school food is being placed firmly back on the nations agenda. If there was ever a time to contemplate Jamie Oliver’s crusade against unhealthy school food, it is now. Since his media-fuelled scrutiny of school eating habits in 2005, there has been a considerable improvement in the nutritional quality of the majority of school food, culminating in the reduction of junk foods in school canteens. However, nearly ten years on, the School Food Plan believes that this is only the start of the change.

New school standards
As part of the new standards, school meals will include; one or more portions of vegetables or salad as an accompaniment to lunch every day, and at least three different fruits and three different vegetables available each week. There is a new placed emphasis on wholegrain foods in place of refined carbohydrates and a stronger emphasis on making water the drink of choice, in order to limit the percentage of added sugars in drinks. In addition, there will also be tighter limitations on food that is deep-fried, batter coated, breadcrumb coated or pastry based.
    
Jamie Oliver has backed the new standards claiming that: “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”.

Jamie Oliver’s influence over the school catering system has been steadily recognisable over the past decade. Following on from the success of his original TV series, The Naked Chef, Oliver began his conquest of the school food issue. He gained support from the British public and his efforts were recognised when the government committed £500 million to the school food system as well as placing a ban on processed junk food in all UK schools in the autumn of 2006.
    
However, the one major downfall of Oliver’s campaign was the loophole that excluded free schools and academies from the rulings that ensured other schools improved the food that they offer to their students.

The time for academies
For the first time, the new standards as composed and installed by Susan Jebb, Professor of Diet and Population Health at Oxford University, as well as John Vincent and Henry Dimbleby, will seek to include all academies as well as schools.
    
All academies established before 2010 have clauses in their funding agreement already that require them to comply with the national standards for school food, which has been progressively implemented since 2006. The new school standards accompany revised funding agreements for new academies and free schools, including requirements to follow the standards already in place. Therefore, academies created from June 2014 onwards will also have to comply with the new food standards.

The Loophole and the worry
However, despite being strongly encouraged to sign up willingly to the national school food standards, academies founded between 2010 and June 2014 are exempt from this clause. According to the Local Government Association, 4,000 academies currently lie within this loophole, as that is the number of schools that became academies between September 2010 and June 2014. This calculates that over two million children are attending schools that do not have to comply.

Despite the many parents concerned over the food served at these institutions, the academies themselves are entitled to continue serving, what is deemed, unhealthy food.
    
This staggering issue is further enhanced by the introduction of free school meals for infant students from September 2014. Local Government Association analysis examines that there are 1,789 primary academies, collectively educating 540,000 infant pupils, that do not have to comply with the new standards.
    
David Simmons, head of the Local Government Association’s children and young people board, commented that: “School autonomy is supposed to drive up standards, but in the case of school meals we now have a two-tier system where one type of school can effectively exempt pupils from healthy choices and instead chose to sell fatty and sugary foods. With ample evidence that good food supports good learning in the classroom, all schools should meet the same high standards”.

Obesity and Children
Obesity in children has risen by over 40 per cent in the last ten years, meaning that nearly 20 per cent of children are considered obese by the time they leave primary school at the age of eleven. If this devastating tendency continues, it can be predicted that half of school children will be obese or overweight by the year 2020.
    
In addition to providing daily school lunches, most schools offer a morning break food facility. These tend to provide snacks such as paninis, wraps and pizzas, but severely lack in foods like vegetables and potatoes. While the popularity of these options seem to be increasing, statistics indicate that 57 per cent of children do not eat the regular school lunches available.
    
According to School Food Matters, a poor diet not only effects children’s health, but also has ‘significant effects on children’s behaviour, concentration and mood. Children with diets lacking in essential vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids tend to perform worse academically, cannot concentrate and are more aggressive’. This remains a key incentive behind the new procedures.

A general misconception that remains lingering over the school food debate is the advantages of packed lunch. While for many households and families the packed lunch is deemed the easier option, the fallacy that it is healthier is not statistically true. Only one per cent of packed lunch meals meet the nutritional standards that currently apply to school food. The School Food Plan argues that it is far easier to get the necessary nutrients into a cooked school meal, a comment Jamie Oliver has continually reinstated.  

Food for thought
Jamie Oliver openly shared his intention for a food revolution to the world ten years ago and the wheels of reformation have been turning ever since. Both the United Kingdom and the United States have benefitted dramatically by aligning their views on nutritional value in school food to Oliver’s outcry. Nonetheless, with Jamie Oliver’s school meal plan being replaced, the question he posed to the public through his earlier revolutionary intentions remains unanswered.
    
He challenged people to ‘imagine a world where children were fed tasty and nutritious, real food at school from the age of 4 to 18. A world where every child was educated about how amazing food is, where it comes from, how it affects the body and how it can save their lives’. The statistics show the changes of the last ten years to be highly beneficial to both children’s health and education. However, the statistics also showcase that not every child is privy to these changes.
    
With the focus of government authorities leaning towards academies, Oliver’s revolutionary antics of the last decade are perhaps a reality too far.

Further information
www.gov.uk/government/news/new-school-food-standards
www.jamieoliver.com/us/foundation