Children are being misled in their eating habits and falling victim to unhealthy misconceptions in the classroom, according to a report released by the Children’s Food Campaign (CFC).

Children as young as five are reportedly being taught in school that cheese is a ‘nutritional goldmine’, that crisps are healthier than apples and that refilling empty drinks bottles with tap water is unsafe.

The study, ‘Through the back door’, has found that food companies are increasingly cooking up their own lesson plans to promote products to children. It finds that many of the curriculum packs produced by companies contain misleading or incorrect information.

The CFC came across packs teaching children that they should include fatty or sugary food as part of their breakfast, that overweight children should not eat less food and that soft drinks are made with “gooditives”, an invented term to put a positive spin on artificial additives.

Two thirds of the curriculum packs that the CFC surveyed contained company logos on materials accessed by children, two thirds contained promotions for a product and two thirds contained misinformation.

The CFC also reported that soft drink makers Vimto encouraged teachers in more than a thousand schools to use English lessons to promote the drink by writing a poem in praise of Vimto for National Poetry Day.

Campaign co-ordinator Richard Watts, said: “We were flabbergasted by some of the claims in these packs. We found nutrition lesson plans about the benefits of eating crisps, claiming that colourings in fizzy drinks were to restore the fruit’s natural colour, and telling children to only eat fruit and vegetables in moderation. Promoting junk food in the classroom under the guise of education is unacceptable.

“The dodgy claims in these packs are written to be taught to children as fact in a lesson. Parents may have no idea that this is happening. Our investigation shows that the food industry cannot be trusted to provide children with unbiased nutritional information,” he said.

Report co-author Lianna Hulbert said: “It is ironic that while many of these claims would be stopped in television or printed advertising, there are no restrictions on promoting them to schools to be taught in a classroom. The materials used to teach our children are totally unregulated. It’s time to go beyond toothless ‘guidelines’. If we can monitor these packs, why can’t the Department for Children, Schools and Families?”

Currently, commercial activities in schools are covered by guidelines produced by Department for Children, Schools and Families and an industry body, the Incorporated Society for British Advertisers. The guidelines encourage companies to promote products that meet the nutritional standards for schools and advise against “excessive” sales messages and branding.

Christine Blower, acting general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said: “The NUT is concerned that children are not exploited or misled by marketing of food products which make claims that are best ambiguous or open to interpretation.”

A survey carried out by YouGov in January 2008 showed that four fifths of people (83 per cent) expect public services to check information or resources provided as part of corporate sponsorship to ensure that they are not inaccurate or biased.

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