July 2009
School meals in eleven secondary schools in England were more nutritious than packed lunches, but further modification of school meal provision is needed to reach nutrient-based standards for energy and iron.
As part of an on-going study into school lunches and children’s food choices, the Trust looked at the school meal provision and dietary intakes of pupils attending eleven mixed secondary schools in four Local Authority areas in England in 2008.
Despite some variation across schools in the extent to which the school meal provision complied with food-based standards, pupils had better intakes of several key nutrients compared with those reported in a national study in 2004.
The current study showed progress being made towards achieving nutrient-based school food standards, but targets for some nutrients (e.g. iron) were more challenging to achieve. However, guidance from the Trust on iron rich recipes, including menus which are compliant with the new standards, has now been published to help caterers to achieve these targets.
The findings also show that school meals were more nutritionally balanced than packed lunches. This brings to light the key role that caterers are playing in improving children’s nutrient intakes as they achieve the new standards. It also supports the need to promote school meals over packed lunches.
School lunch and learning behaviour in secondary schools: baseline dietary data (Adobe pdf doc 95KB)
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