School dinners fall foul of new health laws

THREE-quarters of Scottish primary schools are breaking new laws on healthy eating just months after they were introduced.

Inspectors have revealed that schools are cooking up meals with excessive levels of salt, sugar and saturated fat. Foods such as chips, burgers and pizzas are appearing on the menus too frequently.

Despite stringent Government guidelines being introduced in September last year to help curb childhood obesity, the majority of schools are still failing to offer adequately nutritious menus.

Health experts have condemned the 75% failure rate of primary schools, and have blamed it on a lack of awareness among staff and caterers. Politicians have called on the Scottish Government to investigate the failure and put it right before the law is extended to secondary schools in August.

The Health Promotion and Nutrition (Scotland) Act

prescribes maximum levels of saturated fat, sugar and salt, and minimum levels of fibre, vitamins, calcium and iron. It says primary children should have no more than 557 calories a day at school.

The latest Scottish health survey, conducted in 2003, showed children were eating less than half of the five recommended portions of fruit and vegetables a day, 80% were having too much sugar, 90% having too much fat, and all were having too much salt. One-third of children were either overweight or obese.

An inspector from Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education (HMIE) has visited 34 primary schools across Scotland since the legislation was introduced. Just one-quarter of those schools was found to be implementing the standards in full, while the others had adjustments to make, such as:

&149 changes to fats used for cooking and spreading, to reduce saturated fat;

&149 changes to the frequency with which some foods are served – for example, pre-fried items less often;

&149 more attention to levels of sodium, sugar and iron added to food;

• changing whole milk for semi-skimmed.

A spokesman for HMIE said: "Almost all of the schools were meeting their duties in respect of promoting uptake of school meals, providing access to drinking water and ensuring anonymity of children receiving free school meals.

"In relation to implementing nutrient standards, most had some minor adjustments to make, and we know from subsequent contacts with local authorities that improvements are being made. HMIE has not identified any major concerns about the implementation of these aspects of the Act in the primary schools inspected."

However, the spokesman added it could be difficult to stick to the guidelines because of products from suppliers not meeting the regulations. "Local authorities are addressing these issues, as are manufacturers and suppliers," he said.

Rona Young, a dietician who works in schools in the west of Scotland, said the results were "disappointing". She said: "Setting a good example in school early on can have a big impact on children's eating habits."

She said the healthy eating guidelines were failing because of a lack of publicity. "The Scottish Government has not done enough to raise awareness among parents, teachers, dinner ladies, and people in the catering industry," she said.

"The fact that dinner ladies don't know is worrying. They might not be making up the menus, but you would hope the people delivering the food should have knowledge about it."

Nutritionist Carina Norris said: "I was delighted when the new rules came in and it is disappointing that schools are not living up to these new tougher measures.

"Children are growing rapidly at that age and they need food that is dense in nutrients rather than calories."

Scottish Labour education spokesman Ken Macintosh called on the Government to take action against the schools' poor rate of compliance. "Clearly there is a process of education that needs to take place for schools and their catering services. We need to know what the problems are with producing a healthier menu and put the funding in place to solve those problems.

"I want to see progress on this, because as a country obesity levels are at the top of the political agenda. I hope the Education Secretary takes some action."

A spokeswoman for the Scottish Government said:

"There are no major concerns over the implementation of the guidelines and any adjustments requiring to be made are very minor."