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England’s Free Lunch

in The Too Busy to Diet Blog on July 18, 2013

England’s Education Secretary Michael Grove has proposed providing primary school with free school lunch. Mr. Gove commissioned the School Food Plan last year to study children’s poor eating habits. The study showed that only 1 percent of school lunches provide children with the nutritional standards of England’s School Plan. There is also concern about the inclusion of chips, sweets, and chocolate in packed lunches.
Implementation of the proposed program would increase the number of children receiving school lunches up to eleven years of age by 3 million.
Mr. Gove is using the School Food Plan review to initiate an improvement in children’s health and educational achievement.
Many English parents welcome this initiative because it would save them money and time shopping, preparing, and planning packed lunches.
They feel that school lunches would help model better eating habits and broaden children’s dietary preferences.
The US would be wise to consider similar measures. Like England, children’s packaged meals do not meet school lunch standards. They also provide children with too much fat, cholesterol, sugar, and calories. Pack lunches also add more responsibility to our already busy days.