More than three in four school menus breach food standards

New research has exposed widespread apparent violations in published secondary-school menus. This comes as parents say stronger standards need backing with proper monitoring and enforcement.

Three in four publicly accessible secondary-school menus which campaign group Bite Back analysed didn’t comply with current 2014 School Food Standards. Meanwhile, new polling has found that 72% of parents support government measures to implement checks that ensure compliance with the incoming updated standards.

The findings come in a new study from Bite Back. It’s a youth-led movement campaigning to change the way unhealthy foods are made, marketed and sold, especially to children.

The charity examined a representative sample of 500 state-funded secondary schools across England and found downloadable menus for almost 400. Of the nearly 400 menus analysed, over three quarters (76%) contained an identifiable violation of the current standards.

The government is planning to roll out improved School Food Standards in the coming months to accompany the expansion of Free School Meals to all children on Universal Credit. But parents are calling for stronger accountability.

Public First carried out separate polling of over a thousand parents across England, on behalf of the School Food Review. It found strong support for greater enforcement of these new standards.

72% supported government measures to check whether food served in their child’s school meets the updated standards. Parents were more confident the reforms would actually improve their children’s school food if they had external monitoring and enforcement.

D’Arcy Williams, chief executive of Bite Back, said:

At a time when the health of 1 in 3 English children is at risk, parents are sending the government a clear message: stronger school food standards must come with teeth.

Schools need the support to deliver, but the companies making money from feeding children must also be held accountable.

Ministers now have an opportunity to ensure the new rules are transparent, independently monitored and properly enforced, so every child gets the food they need to learn and thrive.

Williams added:

These findings are very alarming and expose a system that is fundamentally failing our children. It is shocking to find crisps and chocolate being pushed at breakfast time or processed meats like sausage rolls and bacon baps being served far more frequently than the rules allow.

Young people have been telling us for years that their school food is ‘beige, bland and boring’ and now we have more evidence that they are being surrounded by unhealthy food throughout the school day.

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Schools should be a sanctuary for health and learning, yet the current postcode lottery of food quality is undermining that mission.

Menus repeatedly breach guidelines

The menu analysis found repeated violation examples of unhealthy options offered during breakfast and break times. These included crisps and branded confectionery.

Many menus also advertised processed meat such as sausage rolls and bacon baps, or starchy foods cooked in oil such as hash browns and chips. All more frequently than the current standards permit.

These findings also align with additional insights from the same polling where 1 in 5 children are getting junk snacks like biscuits, crisps, chocolate and sweets almost every day.

Of the menus with no violation, almost none included their break menu options. And these usually account for most other menu violations. This suggests that the true scale of the problem may be greater than the publicly available documents reveal.

The research follows an investigation by the BMJ into the commercial environment surrounding school food.

At the UK’s biggest school food industry event, the BMJ found that 52 of 137 exhibiting companies, more than a third, supplied products high in fat, salt or sugar. These included hot dogs, pizzas, muffins and soft drinks.

The main trade association for school caterers reportedly organised the event. It takes sponsorship from companies supplying products including pizzas, cakes, waffles and ice cream.

Carrera (19), a Bite Back campaigner, said:

Young students have been saying for years that what appears on school menus often doesn’t give us the fuel we need to concentrate, learn and get through the school day.

If you’re not in a canteen every day, you might not realise that. We are surrounded by unhealthy products every day, even in the spaces that are supposed to be helping us grow and thrive.

The new standards are a real opportunity-but the government needs to make sure they are actually followed.

Stephanie Slater, the founder and chief executive of the charity School Food Matters, said:

With these incoming improved standards, we have a once in a generation opportunity to raise the quality of school food for every child.

But the data and the public demand is clear: standards without a robust compliance framework will miss this opportunity.

Parents want to know their children are actually receiving the nutritious meals they need to thrive at school. And that can only happen through a combination of collaborative efforts from school leaders, Food Standards Agency, and Ofsted.

Support for universal Free School Meals

Parents also expressed overwhelming support for the government to go further on expanding access to Free School Meals. 80% supported extending provision to every primary-school child. And a similar number (78%) supported extending it to all children across primary and secondary schools.

The research also found:

• There were 224 schools (57%) providing meat products such as burgers, nuggets, sausages and goujons more often than the twice a week permitted by the standards.
• Hash browns, which as a fried starchy food should be a menu option only twice a week, were being offered more often than that at 144 schools (37%).
• There were 123 schools (31%) using chocolate in solid form, such as chocolate chips or chocolate coating, as an ingredient in dessert or bakes, despite it being banned.

Bite Back said the findings show the government has an opportunity and a clear public mandate to ensure more children receive nutritious and delicious school food. And it can also make sure the companies providing it actually meet the School Food Standards everywhere, for every child.

The government’s proposed School Food Standards would increase the availability of nutritious options such as fruit, vegetables, wholegrains and pulses. And they would further restrict high-sugar foods, drinks and other unhealthy options.

Bite Back is calling for the final standards to cover the whole school day and require complete and accessible menus to be published online. And it wants a properly resourced compliance system of independent monitoring and enforcement to support the standards.

Featured image (illustrative) via the Canary

By The Canary

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