Children must eat one or more portions of vegetables or salad every day, according to the much-anticipated new standards for school food released today.
The standards, which will be mandatory from January next year, also state that children must receive at least three different fruits, and three different vegetables each week.
They are designed to be less complex than the previous school food standards, which required cooks to analyse the nutritional and vitamin content of school meals. In contrast, the new standards are structured in food groups rather than complex nutritional breakdown.
Speaking at the Westminster forum for implementing the School Food Plan two weeks ago, Linda Cregan, chief executive of the Children's Food Trust, said: 'Food groups are easier to control than nutrients. School food should be a model for food outside the school.'
As well as the stipulated amounts of fresh produce, the new standards prioritise wholegrain foods in place of refined carbohydrates, and attempt to make water the drink of choice.
Fruit juice portions are reduced to 150ml while no more than two portions of deep fried or batter-coated will be served a week.
Children’s Food Trust head of nutrition Dr Patricia Mucavele said: “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.'
She said that offering a wider range of different foods provides a better balance of nutrients.
“The revised school food standards will allow schools to be more creative in their menus,” said deputy prime minister Nick Clegg. “They are easier for schools to understand and crucially they will continue to restrict unhealthy foods to ensure our children eat well.”
Henry Dimbleby, co-author of the School Food Plan, said he had met with some cooks who felt restricted by the previous standards.
“There was a very talented Asian cook, for example, who was exasperated at having to follow the council’s 3-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,” he said.
He added that other cooks had complained that having to plan menus so far in advance meant they couldn’t make the most of cheap, high-quality, seasonal produce.
Lindsay Graham, school food and health advisor, used the school food forum to emphasise the need for the new policies on school food to be protected. “We need a long-term and robust structure to protect this worthy policy from future governments,” she said.
Many at the forum praised the new food-group based school standards, which were officially released today (17 June) by education minister Michael Gove, but voiced concerns that the timescale to implement the ‘revolutionary’ new School Food Plan was insufficient.
There were calls for a new watchdog to independently monitor wider public sector food procurement, as well as a better media campaign and official public health message to ease the transition for schools.
The new School Food Plan, due to be in effect from 1 September this year, will also ensure cooking and food nutrition is a compulsory part of the national curriculum. However this was met with concerns that it would only be loosely followed, and could be sacrificed for more ‘academic’ subjects at a headteacher’s discretion.
The new standards were piloted in 35 schools by the Children's Food Trust, which said that school caterers and cooks reported that they were more 'intuitive' and easier to use than the previous guidelines.
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