New nutritional guidelines designed to make England's secondary school meals healthier - a key plank of the Government's plans to tackle health inequalities - will be introduced in September. But concerns have been raised this morning that the rules are restrictive and cannot work.Eighty per cent of the Local Authority Caterers' Association's members believe that the new rules - inspired by TV chef Jamie Oliver's campaign to raise the quality of school food - will lead to a decrease in take-up of school food. They say that the guidelines will restrict choice and that schools are likely to replace cafeteria-style buffets in favour of a two-course menu that puts more emphasis on nutrition than pupils' tastes. The LACA wants to see schools continue to offer items popular with children, such as pizza. If this does not happen, it warns, pupils will vote with their feet.
But what's the alternative? Do nothing? A recent report by the health select committee warned that the Government is likely to miss its target to reduce health inequalities by 10 per cent between 1997 and 2010. Radical action is surely needed.
If pupils voting with their feet is the problem, then action should be taken to stop this happening. Locking secondary school pupils in their schools at lunch time may be a step too far. But perhaps combining the new nutritional menus with measures such as those recently unveiled by the London Borough of Waltham Forest to restrict the opening of fast food joints within 400 metres of schools would ensure their success.
