Stephen Morgan, MP for Portsmouth South has welcomed the government’s plans to update the School Food Standards for the first time in over a decade and urged local people to contribute to the consultation.
The move comes after parent polling revealed three quarters are concerned by the food their children are eating, while one in three children are leaving primary school overweight or obese.
The proposed standards, which have been developed alongside nutritionists and public health experts, include limiting food and drinks high in fat, salt and sugar and putting more fruit, vegetables and wholegrains on every child’s plate.
Schools will no longer be able to offer unhealthy ‘grab and go’ options like sausage rolls and pizza every day, while deep fried food will be banned completely. Fruit will also need to be served instead of sugar-laden treats for the majority of the school week.
These changes are supported by food campaigners, charities and nutritional experts including Bite Back, Tom Kerridge, Chefs in Schools, Emma Thompson and Henry Dimbleby.
Mr Morgan is urging parents, schools and caterers in Portsmouth to reply to the nine-week consultation, which was launched yesterday alongside a new national enforcement mechanism to monitor the new standards and ensure they are applied consistently.
Stephen Morgan, Member of Parliament for Portsmouth South said:
“Parents in our city deserve to know that their children are receiving nutritious, delicious food in school – setting them up to learn and thrive.
I’m delighted that this Labour Government is listening to parents’ concerns and overhauling school food standards for the first time in a decade and I urge my constituents to have their say and respond to the consultation.”
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said:
“Today we are launching the most ambitious overhaul of school food in a generation, and it is long overdue.
“Every child deserves to have delicious, nutritious food at school that gives them the energy to concentrate, learn and thrive – meals that children will actually recognise and enjoy, backed by robust compliance so that good standards on paper become good food on the plate.
“From our Free Breakfast Clubs to extending Free School Meals to over half a million more children, this means good-quality food from the moment children arrive at school to the end of the day.”
Health Minister Sharon Hodgson said:
“Children are consuming twice the recommended amount of free sugar and offering more nutritious meals at school is a great way of ensuring they eat healthier food.
“We’re determined to reduce the child obesity epidemic and the new School Food Standards represent another piece in a jigsaw of measures designed to help raise the healthiest generation of children ever.”
