Thanks to the media frenzy which surrounds Jamie Oliver’s every move these days, the dismal state of school dinners has become a hot topic. The celebrity chef’s ongoing exposé on Channel 4, Jamie’s School Dinners, has numbed the nation to the point of disbelief.
Revelations as to what exactly our children are getting for the paltry sum of 37 pence - the average amount being spent on their lunches, not to mention the shocking discovery that a class of teenagers were unable to distinguish between an onion and a rhubarb, have brought school nutrition issues to the fore for the NHS, as well as a number of industry bodies. And the realisation that a large percentage of the meals on offer, including those that are free or heavily subsidised, are being turned down, has alerted independent food providers to the fact that there is a market for their quality produce.
The documentary series has prompted a large number of schools to re-evaluate their catering contracts, with an increasing percentage of them choosing to cut ties with the main national catering companies and provide their own meals. For this reason swarms of parents are coming forward to take charge. At one primary school in Swindon parents have set up a company to provide meals containing fresh cooked organic produce - a concept that has been encouraged in other European countries for years.
In France, many schools employ a nutritionist to devise menus in co-operation with the parents’ committee. Meals are more expensive, priced between £1.50 and £4 but with an average spend of 60 to 70 pence, the children benefit from the investment. A typical meal might include grapefruit as a starter, with chicken and green beans to follow.
Meanwhile, in Helsinki, pupils are treated to potato, cabbage, beetroot or root vegetable casseroles, spinach pancakes and mashed lingonberries. Japanese children enjoy meals including fish with pickled salads, tofu and vegetable soup and fresh fruit along with their teachers - a true testament of its appeal.
In Italy, knowledge of food is a high priority. Roman officials have invested more than £100 million in a three-year programme, and pupils learn the value of fresh produce. According to Kord Melchett, policy director of the Soil Association, a similar directive is in place for Venetian children. “In Venice, food is delivered from the farms to the schools by boat,” says Melchett. “The children eat food which is in season and have visits from farmers to talk about food.”
Some of the main catering companies in the UK have been sceptical about the financial viability of smaller companies, or farmers themselves, serving schools on the current budget allowed. According to Carl Morris, head of marketing of catering giant Sodexho’s UK education services unit, geographical location is also an important consideration. “It’s alright if you are in rural areas with a local network of farms but if you are in the middle of Birmingham it is a rather different proposition,” he says. At the same time, the Local Authority Caterers Association (Laca) has claimed that Oliver’s fine dining approach is incompatible with mass school dining.
However, an increasing number of organic food providers and smaller supplies have been showing an interest in increasing their share of the £1 billion market beyond the current five per cent occupied by independents. Their enthusiasm is shared by the Soil Association which says any extra cost of providing locally sourced better quality ingredients and qualified labour would be recouped by profits from an increased uptake of school meals.
While the English School Fruit and Vegetable scheme is the only one in existence of such proportions, similar initiatives have been established north of the border. In 2003, as part of its ‘Hungry For Success’ campaign, a subsidiary of its mainstream Healthy Living Campaign, designed to improve school meals and eliminate the alarmingly increasing incidence of childhood obesity, the Scottish Executive launched the Free Fruit Initiative for primary school levels one and two, following pilots rolled out by councils across the country. Having started with a three-day programme, the scheme now operates on every school day in some regions, and has been allocated £2m per year until the end of the 2005/06 academic year. This sum is part of the £63.5m to be injected into promoting healthier eating choices by the Scottish Executive. Oliver has reportedly praised the country for its initiatives which he claimed were “light years ahead” of the rest of the UK.
The programme is co-ordinated by individual councils. In August 2004, Falkirk Council lowered the cost of a ‘healthy option’ meal high in fruit and vegetables and has committed to spending £2,000 per day on fresh produce for pupils in the region’s 48 primary schools. Part of this sum is spent on a salad bar which includes cherry tomatoes, carrot sticks, courgettes and beetroot - a far cry from the coronary-inducing deep fried fish, chips and Mars bars for which the country has become legendary.
Glasgow was one of the first councils to adopt the free fruit programme, rolling out ‘Fruit Plus’ in 2001. Thanks to what has been recognised as the biggest healthy initiative ever launched in UK schools, every child aged three to 12 in Glasgow’s 381 primary schools now receives a piece of free fruit. The scheme, implemented by Glasgow City Council in partnership with NHS Greater Glasgow, operates a five-week cycle incorporating red and green grapes, red and green apples, pears, satsumas, cherry tomatoes and bananas.
As well as targeting the youngest children with free fruit, many schools are also being encouraged to promote the habit of snacking on fruit among older pupils through the establishment of healthy tuck shops. Since 1999 the City of Edinburgh Council Education Department, in conjunction with the Edinburgh Community Food Initiative, has funded ‘Snack Attack’ which aims to make fruit the principle playtime snack by offering subsidised prices.
Local Education Authorities in the UK are also trying to promote fruit tuck shops, and according to West London co-ordinator Alison Stafford, since the distribution process is already in place, it would be easy for schools to request extra fruit to sell to older pupils at a reasonable price. In its first termly SFVS newsletter, the London LEA featured fruit tuck shops, with a case study on Avondale Park Primary School in Kensington.
In a bid to stop children frequenting the nearby sweet shop for their morning snack, the school now has fruit delivered daily from Portobello Market. Children can buy apples, tangerines, pears or bananas from a trolley in the playground manned by a learning support assistant (LSA), at a cost of 10 pence a piece and, according to the school, the children’s attention spans and punctuality have noticeably improved. “It’s good to see children that you know have perhaps had nothing to eat that day, buying three or four pieces of fruit,” says one LSA.
Organic retailer Abel & Cole has also recognised the potential of fruit snacking for both farmers and the schools themselves, and is encouraging them to take part in ‘The Farmer’s Choice’ scheme. The company’s not-for-profit initiative enables Parent Teacher Associations to retain 25 per cent of the sales from each bag of produce, with 40 per cent going to the farmer. By selling 50 bags a week, schools can raise about £3,000 a year and the children benefit from additional information about growers and seasonal produce.
In addition to the primary work being done by the schools and related governing bodies, the Scottish Executive has encouraged all other related businesses to jump on the ‘Healthy Living’ band wagon, and devote time to investing in the future health of the nation.
“As a leading produce company, we believe we have a responsibility to support the promotion of healthy living in both a healthy diet, of which our products are essential components, and in terms of encouraging physical activity,” says John Hicks, retail analyst at Albert Bartlett & Sons (Airdrie) Ltd. “Educating younger generations is obviously fundamental, not only in terms of health but also in relation to the business side of the produce industry.
According to Hicks, Bartlett’s is aiming to impact three key areas: school meals, education and physical activity. “In terms of school meals, the key message is ‘potatoes don’t always have to mean chips’,” he says. “Potatoes are actually amazingly nutrient-rich - bursting with vitamins and minerals, virtually fat-free, containing no cholesterol and, when served in their skin, a great source of fibre. They are the perfect base for a healthy, balanced diet.”
The “Hungry for Success” guidelines dictate that chips should only be offered once a week, although potatoes are still included on a daily-basis in a variety of other forms, which is a sign of progress, Hicks says. However, encouraging children to appreciate potatoes in a non-chip form will require some work, he suggests, which has led Bartlett’s to seek some capable assistance.
“We have been having ongoing discussions with local authorities and have enlisted the help of twice Michelin-starred chef, Andrew Fairlie, of Andrew Fairlie at Gleneagles, to help us in this lunch hall re-education,” says Hicks. “Andrew endorses our Rooster and Royals potato brands for the retail sector and is currently working on a series of recipes for school meals which will meet with the Food Standards Agency guidelines for the sector and at the same time generate the children’s interest.”
Hicks says Bartlett’s is also working with education teams to forge links with schools in encouraging knowledge of the industry. “The primary school curriculum has a real interest in health and the environment. Thus, we have been able to aid them in communicating this to the students through site tours and relevant talks.” The company has also opened its doors to secondary school pupils, to provide an insight into a working business.
Recognising the equal importance of exercise in the drive to eradicate obesity, Bartlett’s has entered into a partnership with a national newspaper to help provide a sports bursary for Scotland’s top junior athlete. “We hope that highlighting the benefits they gain from a healthy diet will encourage others in the same age group to look more closely at what they eat,” Hicks says. “The success of a Scottish sports person will also act as inspiration to others to participate in sport and will show what can be achieved through a combination of exercise and a balanced diet.”
Over in the US, a third of children still eat fast-food every day. However, in his new role as governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger has announced plans to rid Californian schools of the vending machines which have been widely blamed for the childhood obesity epidemic. Despite the continuing popularity of pizza and burgers, according to a report published last November by the School Nutrition Association, many schools are choosing to supplement their offerings of fresh produce obtained from the allowance provided by a federal commodity programme, owing to an increasing demand from health-conscious pupils, an increase in the amount of reimbursable funding, and a decrease in cost.
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