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Food news

Jamie's health binge backfires

Naked Chef Jamie Oliver's push for healthier foods to replace greasy french fries, chicken nuggets and turkey twizzlers on British school menus is backfiring.

The number of children eating school meals has fallen by 424,000 since the government's healthy eating drive began two years ago, with pupils spurning Jamie Oliver-style lunches in favour of takeaways, official figures show, reported The Guardian.

Oliver led a nationwide campaign to improve the quality of food served in schools, demanding more money for meals and a ban on junk food. His TV series "Jamie's School Dinners" exposed how cafeteria menus relied on prepared foods like chicken nuggets or the turkey twizzler, a corkscrew of mainly reconstituted turkey scraps and preservatives. Such meals, usually served with piles of fatty french fries, could cost as little as 66 cents.

The TV series prompted the Government to inject £220million into the system over three years, then another £240million up to 2011.

"I'm still committed to it, but really over the next five years, we'll see that negative turn into a positive," he told BBC radio. "We have to be philosophical, we have to keep supporting it," he said. "We have to know and do what's best for our kids."

However the Government is almost a million children below its 2009 target for encouraging more youngsters to take up the option.

School caterers say they support the programme's aims, but believe the changes may be too extreme.

"We believe that such radical changes to young peoples dietary habits are too draconian and the speed of their introduction is too fast," the Local Authority Caterers Association said in a July report.

The new programme includes banning the sale of chocolate bars, flavoured biscuits, sweets and crisps – as well a clampdown on salt, ketchup and mayonnaise on canteen tables.

A spokesman for the School Food Trust said: "We knew this would happen in the first year. But primary schools have stabilised and in the next couple of years as children more used to ,the new meals, come through to secondary level we think numbers will begin to bump up."

However it seems that British pupils still prefer crisps to fruit.

Health Food at schools I think it's a great idea. I wish that SA schools would only sell health foods in the tuck shops. We have to do something! Otherwise all kids will be diabetics by the age of 10. - Pam   The problem starts at home If the children are fed unhealthy food at home, with no exposure to fruits, vegetables and healthy alternatives at home from an early age, then they do not enjoy eating food they are not familar with. So implementing healthy food at a school tuckshop is only one part of the solution. The other is a programme aimed at parents who rely on unhealthy or 'fast' foods in their time-starved lives. You need to change eating habits established from a very young age to effect a lasting change. - Angela Lang   Good eating habits start at home The only reason it's such a foreign idea to kids is due to their eating habits at home. Parents should take a closer look at their own attitude towards healthy eating, it has a bigger impact than most realise. It should be a lifestyle not a burden. - Jody   Won't work In the end, kids don't want to get veggies to eat at school, they want something that tastes nice, i say, give them a choice at least. I have seen what Jamie makes on tv, and I don't want to eat any of it, I am a grown man, now imagine how a child must feel - Dawid   Healthy foods at School My suggestion is every school in SA to have its own dietician/Nutritionist, this will help curb the rate of obese kids in our country. - cleo   Won't work? Dawid, you cannot let children just decide what they do and don't want. They don't know any better. You, as the parent should make the sensible choice. People have no idea what big impact food has on kids' health and also their behaviour. Go to www.foodforthebrain.org and educate yourselves. - Beetjie   Fast food Obesity in children is becoming a serious issue in countries like South Africa, USA and the UK. You can not just ignore the issue Dawid, otherwise the children will grow up us products of a fast-food culture who don't appreciate fresh healthy food and suffer major medical problems. I wish there could be a law to control the fast-food chain. I believe the only way to curb this problem in these countries is to to start closing down 80% of the fast-food joints (you certainly can't call them restaurants). Apart from being unhealthy they promote immediate gratification, which raises a nation who rather buy a unhealthy fast meal than to take time to cook something wholesome. - nane   Healthy food for Kids I believe that Jamie Oliver is on the right track. Kids should be taught what is healthy food and encouraged to take healthy options when eating. A lot of what they learn to eat comes from the parents. No mention need be made of the obesity problem we are facing in South Africa and I am sure the Uk has the same issues. The long term impact that obesity will have on the Healthcare system needs to be taken into account as well and in a national health system that is already under pressure the UK cannot afford to be shortsighted as to the long term effects of unhealthy nutrition at school. SA does not have a National Health system yet, but the impact is being felt by the medical aids currently. - Guy   healthy food at school I disagree with Cleo. a school dietician is a pipe dream. Parents must wake up and start feeding their children healthy food at home and in their lunchboxes. But as Jody says, it is because kids get rubbish to eat at home that they want the same at the tuck shop. Parents who are themselves overweight don't have the first clue how to raise healthy children. I don't think even a long term communication plan advocating healthy eating habits can change the behavior of fat adults raising fat children. But it will at least be a good start. What is true is that it will take longer than Jamie thought to impact on bad habits. And you cannot just target the kids, when the adults feeding them at home need the education! - Nicola   Junk Food & Kids Am extremely fortunate that altho' my Grand-daughter enjoys junk food, she would also rather have a Pasta Chicken Salad than a Burger and she also has plenty of fruit. Guess it's up to the parents/guardians to ensure that they offer the "right stuff" more regularly and keep the "junk" for now & then .... - Helen   Go Jamie! The crap that children digest is deplorable and it is up to adults to streamline into being educated about healthy choices. The fact that so many PARENTS have been against this wonderful movement says a lot: they are more interested in pleasing their children, not very interested in a healthy lifestyle and not very educated themselves. - Jennifer   KIDS LUNCH MEALS I THINK THAT ITS GREAT TO CUT OUT JUNK FOOD AT SCHOOL TUCK SHOPS BUT ALSO WHAT DO KIDS EAT WHEN PARENTS ARE TO BUSY TO MAKE THE EFFORT ON THEIR LUNCH AND FIND IT MUCH EASIER TO GIVE MONEY WHEN THEY ARE DROPPED OFF AT THE GATE. - hayley   Junkfood at school tuck shops I'm a mom with an ADHD child, aged 12 today, and has for ever since she started with school battled to get the school to change their cheap junk food to more healthy food. It seems like their profit line on junk food means more than the required healthy food. Thanks Jamie for the assistance herein - at least some schools adjusted accordingly! - Connie   Food Recipes Wow what a wonderful gift you have been to me. My family is eating healthy and good food becauce of you. I would gladly appreciate if you can send me more food recipes and those for baking. Thanks a lot. - Patience   Children and junk food Unfortunately, since the 1950's generations of children have been subjected to the onslaught of fast food - takeaways and the food industry generally. These children are now the parents of this generation that are simply following what their parents did and still do. Not much fresh fruit, vegetables or salads and not enough cooking of healthy fresh food in the home kitchen. The problem starts in the home. - Michael Bowery       Name Email Subject Comment