CaterMap

School meals uptake rises

John — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 14:33:46 +0000

The number of children eating school lunches in England every day has risen by almost 321,000, according to new figures.

The annual survey of school lunch take-up for the 2009-10 year, carried out by the School Food Trust and the Local Authority Caterers Association (LACA), showed that take-up of healthy school lunches increased in both primary and secondary schools.

In primary schools, the proportion of children eating a school lunch rose from 39.3% in 2008-09 to 41.4% in 2009-10, a rise of 2.1 percentage points. Secondary schools saw a 0.8-point increase, from 35% in 2008-09 to 35.8% in 2009-10.

Disproving the myth

John — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 14:39:02 +0000

School Food Trust chair Rob Rees said: “The number of children eating school meals had been on a downward spiral for many years when Jamie Oliver brought the issue into the nation’s living room, leading to even more children and parents turning their backs on canteens. Now, following the introduction of national standards for meals and the hard work to improve the dining room experience for children, this is being reversed – disproving the myth that children simply don’t want to eat healthy food.

No expansion of free meals

John — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 14:35:36 +0000

Last month, Education Secretary Michael Gove said he was scrapping plans by Ed Balls, his predecessor, to extend free school meals from next term to 500,000 of the very lowest paid.

Children’s Food Campaign Reacts to Coco Pops Ruling

John — Wed, 05 May 2010 08:16:33 +0000

The Children’s Food Campaign says it is disappointed by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ruling that the Kellogg’s Coco Pops advert featuring a cartoon character in school uniform did not break its code.

The CFC argued that the advert was “socially irresponsible” because it encouraged children to eat more of a high-sugar product.

The ASA disagreed and said the advert complied within regulations.

School dinner’s campaigner voted favorite celebrity chef

John — Tue, 04 May 2010 08:12:33 +0000

Healthy eating champion, Jamie Oliver, has been voted Brits’ most popular celebrity chef, beating off competition from multiple Michelin star winners such as Gordon Ramsay and Marco Pierre White.

The star of Jamie’s Ministry of Food secured 19% of the vote, just edging out Ramsay (18%) and Heston Blumenthal (17%), according to a survey from Bookatable.com.

Loyalty to our local chefs isn’t evident across the UK, with Delia Smith only proving to be the fourth most popular in East Anglia (10%), and Marco Pierre White only the fifth favourite in Yorkshire (5%).

Thousands join Cookathon

John — Sun, 02 May 2010 08:10:17 +0000

More than 30,000 people from 260 schools across the country took part in the Let’s Get Cooking BIG Cookathon on 16 March 2010

This is the second annual Cookathon competition organised by Let’s Get Cooking, which encourages as many people as possible to cook a healthy dish together on the same day.

The competition received celebrity support, with players from Leeds Carnegie RFU, Norwich City FC and Bolton Wanderers FC joining in with the cooking at their local schools.

Pupils should have access to free healthy school dinners

John — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 08:16:47 +0000

Some 67% of education staff said that primary pupils should have access to a free and healthy school meal, according to a survey by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL).

ATL surveyed 870 teachers, lecturers, support staff and school leaders in schools across the United Kingdom about food in schools.

73% of respondents believe that an initiative to control what food schools can sell to pupils should be rolled out, similar to The Schools (Health Promotion and Nutrition) (Scotland) Act 2007. This would control, amongst other things, the sale of more than three deep fried items in a single week, the sale of chocolate products, sweets and savoury snacks such as crisps.

Very few packed lunches in primary schools meet nutritional standards

John — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 16:34:53 +0000

Just 1% of packed lunches for primary schoolchildren come up to the nutritional standards set for school meals in England, a new report has found.
A team of researchers from Leeds University examined 1,300 schoolchildren’s lunchboxes and found that healthy foods like fruit and vegetables lost out to crisps and sugary snacks.
The study, the results of which were published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, involved children aged eight and nine who took a packed lunch to school on at least one day of the week.
Over a quarter of the children had packed lunches containing food and drink banned under rules on healthy prepared meals for local authority schools in England, which came into force in 2006.

Badly-designed canteens reduce school dinner uptake

John — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 14:45:29 +0000

Efforts to improve the quality of school meals could all be in vain if canteens aren’t made fit for purpose, according to new research.

An independent study, carried out on behalf of the (SFT) found that poor quality canteens are the biggest barrier to children’s uptake of school food.

The report highlights cramped canteen layouts, poorly-managed queuing systems, inefficient payment methods and high noise levels among several environmental factors that contribute to low school meal uptake.

Top 10 highest calorie meals in the UK

John — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 20:41:55 +0000

Lemon Chicken (Chinese) – 1,871 calories per serving

General Tso’s Chicken (Chinese) – 1,400 calories per serving

Lasagne (Italian) – 1,059 calories per serving

Steak and Kidney Pie (British) – 1,037 calories per serving

Pizza (Italian) – 919 calories per serving

Cheese Nachos (Mexican) – 847 calories per serving

Burger and Chips (American) – 825 calories per serving

Chicken Tikka Masala (Indian) – 774 calories per serving

Butter Chicken (Indian) – 700 calories per serving

Fish & Chips (British) – 660 calories per serving