Confectionery should not be provided as part of school lunches, or at any time of the school day.
What is specified in this standard?
Confectionery should not be provided as part of school lunches. Children can no longer choose sweets or chocolate, including products containing, coated or flavoured by chocolate.
Why this standard needs to be in place
- Confectionery products are all high in sugar and some are also high in fat and do not make a valuable contribution to a child’s nutrient intake.
- Many children, especially in secondary schools, eat confectionery instead of a balanced meal for lunch.
- Confectionery products contribute to tooth decay.
What does confectionery include?
- Chocolate and chocolate products, for example: bars of milk, plain or white chocolate; chocolate flakes, buttons or chocolate-filled eggs.
- Chocolate-coated bars.
- Biscuits containing or coated in chocolate (including partly and fully-coated biscuits such as chocolate digestives, chocolate covered caramel wafers, chocolate fingers, choc chip cookies).
- Sweets, for example: boiled, liquorice, mint and other sweets, also sherbet, fudge, marshmallows, toffee, and chewing-gum; this includes sugar-free sweets and chewing-gum.
- Cereal chewy bars, cereal crunchy bars, processed fruit bars and sugared, dried, yoghurt or chocolate-coated fruit.
- Chocolate ices and other chocolate-coated ice-cream.
*NB:* This does not include cocoa powder used in cakes, puddings, biscuits or drinking chocolate or combination drinks made with milk, yoghurt or dairy equivalents including soya, oat and rice-based drinks.
Serving suggestions
- Cakes and biscuits can be provided only at lunchtime as long as they contain no confectionery. Children should only be encouraged to eat these as part of a meal following, but not instead of, a main course.
- Replace chocolate flakes or chocolate buttons used as a dessert decoration with fresh or dried fruit.
Good practice
- Develop ‘meal deals’ so that the dessert item is not sold separately from the rest of the meal.
- Let children know, if they ask, why confectionery products have been removed.
- Do not replace confectionery items with a huge variety of cakes and biscuits. Keep the selection small and try to make sure that most of them contain some type of fruit, for example: date slices, Dutch apple cake, carrot cake, banana loaf, malt loaf, apple shortbread, fruit flap jacks, fruit muffins, spicy fruit biscuits.
Does this standard apply across the school day?
Yes. From September 2007 confectionery should not be provided at any time of the school day where food is made available.
