Catering consultants, specialising in school and college catering such as Catermap say that schools face real challenges in balancing their budgets during these difficult economic times.

There are however always ways to look at overhead costs and improve the quality of meals produced, and not always by simply increasing costs.

Pupils say they are becoming tired of hearing about healthy food but Catering Consultants believe good quality food, presentation and marketing makes the difference.

The Latest Key Findings as reported by the School Food Trust

• Pupils have one hour or more for lunch in 68% of primary and 24% of secondary schools. Pupils had lunch periods of 30 minutes or less in 16% of primary and 13% of secondary schools.
• 13% of primary and 49% of secondary head teachers considered their dining space to be ‘not very’ or ‘not at all’ adequate.
• 27% of primary and 10% of secondary schools reported having no dedicated indoor dining areas. The school hall was used for dining in most of these schools.
• More than 60% of schools gave pupils the option to eat in designated outdoor dining areas
• 32% of head teachers reported that the take up of school meals had increased between autumn 2007 and autumn 2008. 38% reported that it had remained the same, and 23% that it had decreased.
• The main reasons identified as contributing to an increase in take up were that the food had improved (47%) and that meals had been promoted (21%). Reasons for a fall in take up were that the food had changed (67%) and that prices had increased (25%).
• 76% of primary and 70% of secondary head teachers thought that pupils’ attitudes towards eating healthier meals was better in Spring 2008 than in Spring 2007. Only 1% of primary and 4% of secondary head teachers thought that attitudes were worse.

He also stated that councils should be using their powers to ban fast food outlets from opening close to schools and teachers should be preventing children leaving the premises during lunch breaks.

Mr Balls commented at a Healthy Eating in Schools conference in London: “We’ve made huge progress on school food but what goes on outside the school gates is as important as what happens inside.

“Schools, parents and local authorities all need to be working together to make sure our children and teenagers get the kind of healthy food that will set them up for success in life.”
 
Research suggests that 90% of parents thought schools should adopt a stay on site policy, with 67% agreeing that children would eat more healthily if they were not allowed to leave school at lunch time.

On average, parents pay £159 per week or just over £31 a day, for a child under two to go to nursery. The report found that a very small fraction of this cost goes on food, on average 3-6% of the cost of sending a child to nursery. And 3% of nurseries are spending as little as 25p a day feeding each child.

Peter Melchett, Soil Association policy director, said: “Until now, everyone has overlooked the quality of food given to children in nurseries. Sadly we have in many cases been overlooking a scandal. Children under-five are at their most vulnerable. It is then

they really need healthy food. This report sets out what nurseries, parents, and the Government must do to make sure every child gets the healthy food they need for a healthy start in life.”

• The money, which councils will be invited to bid for, is ring-fenced to build food technology teaching areas in the 500 plus school that don’t currently any facilities at all.
• Another £750,000 is available to assist schools in recruiting the 800 new food technology teachers estimated to be required, and an additional £2.5m has already been promised to cover the cost of the ingredients.

Schools minister Ed Balls said: “Cooking is already taught in the vast majority of primary schools and we’re making it compulsory in secondary school from 2011″.

The school dinners campaigner said a “personal survey” had convinced him that kitchens in six out of 10 schools would be condemned if they were not controlled by local councils.

Oliver added that problems highlighted three years ago in his Jamie’s School Dinners TV series still had not been addressed, and warned that the current level of funding was simply “not enough” to solve the problem.

Getting high-quality food into schools is only half the issue. According to Ed Balls, many children who eat healthy lunches at primary school stop when they go to senior school - put off by long queues, unpopular menus or having to eat in the same room as teenagers six or seven years older.

The guidelines move into new territory by suggesting pupils won’t be put off school meals if they are treated like the paying customers they are.

Simple steps such as using a cool bag can keep bacteria from multiplying. Food poisoning bacteria multiply fast but they need moisture, food, warmth and time. A warm lunch box left sitting in a classroom can provide an ideal environment.

Bacteria multiplies best between 5ºC and 63ºC; a single germ can multiply to more than four million within eight hours in the right conditions.