The UK needs to rethink its approach to school dinners
School dinners are a crucial part of the day for children and young people throughout the UK, helping to fuel their learning and boost their development. According to Public Health Nutrition, children consume around 30 per cent of their diet at school, so it’s crucial that what they are eating is nutritious, balanced and enjoyable.
While we have turned a corner in recent years and no longer serve ultra-processed foods as standard in schools, mounting challenges including increasing food prices and funding issues mean school dinners in the UK are still not up to scratch, despite government guidelines.
Using high quality, sustainable and locally sourced ingredients should be standard practice, but this isn’t always the case. The UK needs to rethink its approach, or we risk doing a serious disservice to our young people by failing to provide them with the nutrients needed not only for their educational attainment, but their physical and mental development.
Funding and free school meals
Adequate funding is key to providing children with nutritious school meals, but this has long been a challenge in the education sector.
The Department for Education recently announced that funding for universal infant free school meals would rise from £2.58 to £2.61 per child in September, a small uplift which is well below expected inflation and far from what is needed to cover rising food prices.
Failing to provide the funds for infant free school meals means more schools are being forced to use cheap, processed foods in their menus, rather than the high quality and nutritious ingredients that children need.
What’s more, the free school meals qualification criteria for older children also needs a rethink. According to the Child Poverty Action Group, there are 900,000 children living in poverty who don’t qualify for a free school meal, putting them at serious risk of nutrient deficit or other health and developmental issues.
Free school meals are proven to benefit children’s health, wellbeing and education. As noted by the Food Foundation, those who receive them are more likely to attend school and see improved learning outcomes, while there are also benefits for wider society.
Sustainable production
The Research Consortium for School Health and Nutrition, an initiative of the School Meals Coalition which aims to improve school meals globally, noted in 2023 that school meals programmes are a good opportunity to introduce new standards and implement change on a national scale. To do this, we need to rethink food systems and introduce healthy and sustainable dietary habits across both production and consumption.
Investment in well-designed and holistic school meals programmes have strong results in producing healthier and more educated individuals, as found by the UN Food Systems Summit, and a ‘whole school’ approach to food is key.
Teaching children to grow their own food, educating them about where their food comes from and helping them to be mindful of the benefits of fresh and organic produce are all ways schools can support the UK agricultural system and provide healthier meals.
While the government has encouraged the use of UK-grown and produced products, when faced with rising costs, many wholesalers have had to swap to cheaper, lower quality ingredients according to the Federation of Wholesale Distributors. This means the hard work that has gone into local sourcing and menu creation has taken a step back.
Ideally school meals should be sustainable, nutritious and locally sourced, and both government and school authorities should be making every effort to ensure this is so.
Variety is key
According to the government School Food Standards Practical Guide, school dinners should provide plenty of fruit and vegetables and unrefined starchy foods, some meat, fish, eggs, beans, or other non-dairy sources of protein, some milk and dairy products, and a small amount of food and drink high in fat, sugar and salt.
Children and young people need to consume a balanced diet to ensure they get the nutrients they need to develop and function healthily, such as sufficient calcium for bone strength and vitamin A to support immunity [British Nutrition Foundation].
Despite this, the variety needed isn’t always provided, and secondary schools in particular face issues with students choosing unhealthier options from a limited choice.
Schools across the board are also reducing portion and menu sizes, or using cheaper, processed foods, thanks to the impact of food shortages and price increases. The Office for National Statistics recently reported a three per cent annual increase in food prices, making it more difficult for schools to provide variety, while ingredients such as fish, chicken, and certain fruits and vegetables are all experiencing shortages.
Compromising on the quality of food provided in school dinners isn’t the answer, and the government needs to rethink how it will make access to the variety needed more affordable.
Looking ahead
Funding and resources are being stretched relentlessly, but there is no room for cutting corners with school meals.
Failing to provide free school meals for those who need them isn’t acceptable. We need to rethink where resources are being allocated to ensure there is sufficient funding for nutritious, balanced meals in schools.
Equally, sourcing locally grown foods and teaching children how to produce their own ingredients is key for the future of young people and wider society, and failing to acknowledge this means missing a trick.
The government needs to take funding for school dinners and free school meals seriously if we are to raise healthy, happy, and hard-working young people.
Philip Mayling is Director of Midlands-based food supplier MKG Foods, one of the UK’s longest-standing independent foodservice companies, having operated for over 75 years.