Food poverty campaigner Kathleen Kerridge has called for all UK schools to ban packed lunches as part of a healthy eating campaign.
Some schools in the UK have already banned packed lunches and provide each child with a school lunch.
In a debate about children’s health at London’s City Hall, Kerridge expressed her concern that parents might influence unhealthy eating in other children.
Speaking at the event, Kerridge said: “I don’t think the responsibility for feeding a child at school should ever be given to the parents, because if one child sees another eating a cake and drinking a can of coke they will want it.”
Here are some snacks that feature frequently in children’s packed lunches:
Bear Pure Fruit Paws Dino: 55p
Per 20g Per 100g
54 calories– 7.56g sugar– 0.04g fat. 275 calories – 37.8g sugar-0.2f fat
Goodies Blackcurrant Star Fruit: 60p
Per 12g Per 100g
40 calories – 0.1g fat – 7.5g sugar 331 calories – 0.5g fat – 62.8g sugar
Kiddylicious Raspberry Crisps: 60p
Per 12g Per 100g
41 calories – <0.5g fat – 7.6g sugar 340 calories – 1.9g fat – 62.4g sugar
Ellas Kitchen Melty Hoops: 70p
Per 20g Per 100g
17 calories – 0.6g fat – <0.5g sugar 436 calories – 16.2g fat – <0.5g sugar
The Jamie Oliver Food Foundation, together with Sheffield University, have published a report warning that our schools are troubled by a ‘culture of high fat and sugary foods being used as rewards’. They say the problem is uneducated parents who don’t know what healthy alternatives schools are offering their children.
They add, dangerous ignorance about food and nutrition is creating an unhealthy food environment at secondary schools, compromising pupils’ ability to make good food choices.
