Do you agree with introducing mandatory healthier school-meal standards (including bans on deep-fried food and limits on sugary desserts) in state-funded schools in England from 2027?
The government has updated school food standards for the first time in over a decade. From September 2027 state-funded schools in England must follow stricter rules that ban deep-fried foods, limit high-fat and high-sugar items including desserts to once or twice a week, require fruit or vegetables with every meal, and increase fibre and wholegrains. Compliance is already a legal requirement and the changes align with latest dietary advice to tackle childhood obesity and improve nutrition.
34 Opinions
My yes is a qualified Yes, I don't regard high carb, high sugar a healthy diet, so encouraging lots of fruit, bread & other carbs isn't OK, but if it stops young people eating total junk & ultra processed food that's a step in the right direction. I agree with MAHA in the U.S
Unless extra funding is supplied it will schools under more pressure. Plus what happened to informed choice? It should be up to kids to be given a choice.
It’s not the school dinners making kids over weight it’s the sweets after school the munching and grazing all day outside of school. As long as some degree of nutritional balance can be achieved in a school setting let them decide on how to create meals that children will eat.
But remember for some kids it’s the only meal they get in the day so eating is more important than being healthy. There are ways where food to be healthy without taking it all away
As a retired Deputy Head teacher I have experience of school meals. The meals produced are bland and over cooked. Removing salt, sugar and fat and subsidising with low grade ingredients means that the children will not eat them. In my primary school the children either refused to eat what was on their place or deliberately dropped it on the floor.. not all children are obese and many coming from deprived homes are in need of good quality nutritious food.
Childhood obesity has been a problem for years. It's about time the DoE overhauled school meals to make them healthier and more beneficial to children. Granted, this is only part of the problem and the real issue lies in what children eat at home / as snacks. But at least this will hopefully give children an option to eat healthier and change their eating habits into something less focused on fatty and fried foods.
Odd its controversial, but typical of or Public sector. If State has any competence it should work to a budget but quality is always trumped by cheapness. When NHS Hospitals serve their patients an excess of unhealthy carbohydrates based on the discredited ‘food pyramid’ what chance do schools have? Any government that can instantly find £Billions for the Globalists war in Ukraine but penny pinches on healthy whole food -proper meat & vegetables is failing children.
I think its an excellent decision, my hope is it will encourage children to eat s better way. The worry is they will try to get things from outside. I hope all parents encourage there children to adjust their eating habits overall.
In State funded schools - state-run not too long ago - the state should absolutely be setting rules on school meal standards just like it does with the curriculum, exam formats, and countless other areas of school life.
Every child deserves a healthy and filling meal. At a time when budgets are so stretched and people are having to choose the cheaper option to survive, a well balanced and healthy school meal can remove some pressure from parents. However, there is a balance to be had and there is no need for companies to profit off school meals. The focus should be on nutritious, quality food that children will eat and not on lining a CEOs pocket.