New school meal standards 'too prescriptive'

25th March 2009

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New government standards for school meals have been branded "too prescriptive" and "expensive".

The Local Authority Caterers Association claimed that the majority of secondary schools will fail to meet the guidelines on nutrition, which are due to be brought in this September.

The LACA published a poll of their members which found that around a fifth of secondary schools will miss the September deadline, and a further half will not meet the nutritional standards in full.

The government announced legislation on nutritional standards for school meals three years ago.

And the guidelines became law for primary schools last September.

But LACA believes that the legislation will prove problematic for secondary schools, with pupils choosing to go to a local shop or takeaway instead.

Neil Porter, chairman of LACA, told the BBC that the new regulations are "far too prescriptive".

He stated: "We believe that they won't be acceptable by our customers and there is a likelihood that they will vote with their feet.

"They will fight and go and get their lunch in a local shop or a takeaway."

He explained that the new standards require caterers to comply with 14 nutrient requirements.

All school meal menus must be put through a computer programme to give an analysis of the nutrients in the recipe.

Porter said that the new system will also prove more expensive for schools.

"There is a cost to the software package and to somebody managing and imputing the systems on a regular basis," he said.

"And there is an extra cost to the compliance of the new foods."

He also criticised the new law for limiting recipe choices.

"It is very difficult to be imaginative when you have got iron and zinc as two of the key nutrients in the analysis to be provided," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

"Iron, a prime example of where that can be obtained from is liver or offal and zinc from leafy vegetables and spinach. Sadly, spinach and liver are not our most popular items on our menu."

But Judy Hardogan, chief executive of the School Food Trust, told the BBC that the new standards would be introduced on a step-by-step basis.

"We have managed to get compliant menus without going near liver," she noted.

"You are expected to have a minimum level of the nutrients that we need and a maximum level of sodium and fat."

She admitted that it would be a challenge for schools.

But she added: "They have to engage pupils in changing their taste buds. We had big scares a couple of years ago that removing chips from the menu would take children away.

"But the biggest downturn in meal take-up was back in the '80s when they started serving not such good food.

"It is workable. We just all have to keep working at it together."