Boris food guru: Give free meals to all pupils and slash obesity

[Northerner]

Boris Johnson?s food adviser called today for every pupil in London to get a free school lunch.

Rosie Boycott, head of Food London, said free meals could help tackle the child obesity crisis. Just over a third of 10- and 11-year-olds in the capital are overweight, with numbers rising, according to the latest figures.

Ms Boycott suggested a five-year pilot scheme, supported by City Hall and the Department for Education at ?1.50 per pupil per day, could prove her theory. ?I?m a great believer that free school lunch is an important thing for kids to have, because obesity is going to cripple the NHS in due course,? she said.

?It?s the number one health issue at the moment and quite frankly we?re not doing enough to stop it.

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/educ...-to-all-pupils-and-slash-obesity-8424968.html

 

[Vicsetter]

If they wont give T2s test strips why should anyone give kids a free school lunch?

 

[fencesitter]

Interesting idea especially if it gets kids into eating healthy meals, but school finishes at 3 or 3.30pm and lots will go home via the shops or tuck into some snacks when they get home. Breakfast and dinner probably account for some of the 'worst' offending foods too. My kids have had some good health education at school and seem to understand that eating a balanced diet is a good idea, but of course it depends on families to put that learning into practice, at least until they're in their teens and want to get involved with the cooking (if only)