ne in five children starting primary school in the UK is overweight or obese. By the time they
leave school, that figure will rise to one in three, and the chances of them being overweight in adulthood – which brings a range of associated health risks – is high, at 50-75%.
The root cause of diet-related obesity is no secret: an energy imbalance between the quantity of food being consumed and the level of physical activity being exerted. Addressing this imbalance needs to be, in part, a review of our diet. More fresh ingredients especially fruit and veg, less processed foods, and fewer additives are all important factors in building a balanced diet.
When the Department of Health released its childhood obesity plan last year, it recognised that a collective approach, rather than just individual behaviour change, is a successful way of achieving this. Universal adjustments – such as reducing portion sizes in processed snacks or a blanket decrease in sugar content in soft drinks – influence the way we eat through the choices available to us.
Transferring this all-embracing approach to the school kitchen makes sense. We consume one-third of our calories outside the home, and for children that includes school lunch.
So it is clear that school caterers have an important role to play in maintaining healthy diets. Offering a school menu packed with fresh ingredients, and without undesirable or artificial additives, makes a direct impact on the kinds of food children eat at school.
It’s an area the Soil Association consistently works to address through its Food for Life programme – working with schools to transform food culture, improve food education, and encourage lasting and sustainable changes to the way schools think about food.
And it works. In Food for Life schools, pupils are twice as likely to eat five a day and a third less likely to eat no fruit or vegetables than pupils in comparison schools, and if every primary school in the UK were signed up, a million more children would be eating their five-a-day. Beyond the school gates, 45% of parents say their families eat more vegetables at home too.
In practice, a Food for Life Served Here award means at least 75% of dishes are prepared on site using fresh ingredients, with no undesirable additives. Food provenance is important: meat comes from farms that satisfy UK animal welfare standards, free-range eggs are exclusively used, fish is always Marine Conservation Society approved, and information is displayed to help pupils learn about where their food comes from.
The award encourages local seasonal produce and, at silver or gold level, requires a commitment to environmentally friendly produce such as organic. At its heart, the award promotes fresh, local and honest food – designed to support health and wellbeing, enhance food understanding and support a balanced diet.
Which is why, throughout October, we are calling on parents to find out whether their child’s school serves Food for Life. We’ve set up an interactive online map that will show you whether your school holds an award, and at what level, through which you can also nominate schools that don’t already have an award.
Helping your child’s school achieve a Food for Life Served Here award doesn’t just bring benefits for your own family: the whole school enjoys food that is freshly prepared, locally sourced and free from unwanted additives.
More than 50% of English primary schools have a Food for Life Served Here award, serving around 1.7m meals each day to more than 10,000 schools, and it’s a figure we want to see grow.
Together we can make fresh, local and honest food the staple in schools across the UK.
Find out what is powering your children at school at foodforlife.org.uk/served-here
- This article was amended on 4 October 2017 with updated statistics
ليست هناك تعليقات:
إرسال تعليق