Food for Life Partnership

• Children's lunchboxes full of junk
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Children's lunchboxes full of junk

12 January 2010

Leeds University: Call to fill nutrition gap in the school lunchbox
A new study by Leeds University reveals that if the nutritional standards set for school meals were applied to packed lunches only 1% would comply. The researchers found that parents fill lunch boxes with sweets, crisps and sugary drinks instead of vegetables, fruit and milk.
Read the report

Food for Life Partnership comment:
The Food for Life Partnership believes that school meals are a vital education service – the one lever Government has to influence the eating habits of the next generation. This report shows the importance of increasing up-take of school meals demonstrated by the poor nutritional value of packed lunches in UK schools. Through the Food for Life Partnership 145,000 children get to eat healthy and climate-friendly school meals every day and the up-take of school meals in Food for Life Partnership award-winning schools has increased by 16% in 2008 and 2009.

Joanna Lewis, Head of Policy for the Food for Life Partnership, says:
“This research shows that packed lunches are no solution to our epidemic of diet related diseases and childhood obesity. Healthy and climate-friendly school meals should be a core part of the school day for all children, not just the 37% who currently eat them, and in Food for Life Partnership schools this is becoming a reality thanks to a revolution in food quality and education.”