Concern over cost of school meals

Angela McComb, Regional Health Promotion Manager for Nutrition with the Health Promotion Agency for Northern Ireland, said: “The quality of nutrition during childhood lays the foundation for either good or ill health in the future. For those children who take them, the school meal contributes a significant amount to their overall nutrition as they make up at least a third of the child’s daily food intake. The implementation of the new compulsory nutritional standards for school meals will help to ensure that the food and drinks provided for children will give these children a good start in life.

The current allocation for food costs between 34p and 56p of the school meal can lead to a heavy dependence on labour saving food stuffs, such as processed chicken and meat products. These can be low in protein, iron and other nutrients and high in fat. The nutritional standards state that such products should be used less frequently with a greater dependence placed on unprocessed meat, chicken and other protein sources as well as more fruit and vegetables.

There is concern that the cost of school meals will rise following the implementation of the new standards. However, the Health Promotion Agency believes that full implementation of the standards is essential to the health for children and that this should be considered a high priority for further investment, for example to reinstate school meals subsidies. The Department of Education should see that it has a major role in promoting health through school meals. The Health Promotion Agency recognises this would require a significant allocation of funding, however, we believe that investing now in school meals would be a valuable investment for health in the future.

It is also important to remember that children’s nutrition comes from many other sources in addition to school meals for example food provided by parents; vending machines and tuck shops in schools, mobile or fixed food outlets close to schools. Ensuring good nutrition for our children will require the active involvement of all these providers.”

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