Northerner
Admin (Retired)
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
School meals in England will have to include at least one portion of vegetables a day - and no more than two portions of fried food each week.
Ministers have announced regulations for school food in state schools, which will apply from January 2015.
The regulations promote drinking water and limit the size of fruit juice servings to quarter pints (150ml).
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said the rules would "continue to restrict unhealthy foods".
Schools will also have to provide a choice of fruit and vegetables as part of the new rules.
The school food regulations, designed to promote healthy eating, will be mandatory for local authority schools, new free schools and schools that convert to academies.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-27869411
I must admit, not having had children myself, it was a bit of an eye-opener for me when Jamie Oliver kicked off a few years ago. I hadn't realised how much things had changed when I was at school. Whilst there were some choices to be made each day, you didn't really think twice about taking one of the options on offer and practically everyone had a hot school dinner. Packed lunches were very rare indeed, and only pupils who lived within a short walking distance of school were allowed home for meals. We generally ate in classrooms, or a local community centre when I was little - none of this having to think too much about the 'eating environment' and trying to make it fun and enjoyable for the children, it was all about eating and chatting to your friends at the table. There was a teacher's table for the lower schools, and a punishment for misbehaving was to have to eat at the teacher's table. Dinner ladies would wander through the tables to check that the children were eating properly, or if they needed help e.g. in cutting meat. Most meals were meat and veg plus a pudding, not processed food like burgers, pizza etc. There were no vending machines in schools, and you had milk at break times and water with your lunch. In secondary school we also had a jug of milky 'coffee' at lunchtimes.
Nostalgia rant over!
Ministers have announced regulations for school food in state schools, which will apply from January 2015.
The regulations promote drinking water and limit the size of fruit juice servings to quarter pints (150ml).
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said the rules would "continue to restrict unhealthy foods".
Schools will also have to provide a choice of fruit and vegetables as part of the new rules.
The school food regulations, designed to promote healthy eating, will be mandatory for local authority schools, new free schools and schools that convert to academies.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-27869411
I must admit, not having had children myself, it was a bit of an eye-opener for me when Jamie Oliver kicked off a few years ago. I hadn't realised how much things had changed when I was at school. Whilst there were some choices to be made each day, you didn't really think twice about taking one of the options on offer and practically everyone had a hot school dinner. Packed lunches were very rare indeed, and only pupils who lived within a short walking distance of school were allowed home for meals. We generally ate in classrooms, or a local community centre when I was little - none of this having to think too much about the 'eating environment' and trying to make it fun and enjoyable for the children, it was all about eating and chatting to your friends at the table. There was a teacher's table for the lower schools, and a punishment for misbehaving was to have to eat at the teacher's table. Dinner ladies would wander through the tables to check that the children were eating properly, or if they needed help e.g. in cutting meat. Most meals were meat and veg plus a pudding, not processed food like burgers, pizza etc. There were no vending machines in schools, and you had milk at break times and water with your lunch. In secondary school we also had a jug of milky 'coffee' at lunchtimes.
Nostalgia rant over!
