Fish & chips, Coco Pops and fried eggs to be BANNED from schools – with lentils & chickpeas made compulsory instead

FISH and chips, Coco Pops and fried eggs are set to be banned from schools – with lentils and chickpeas made compulsory instead. Under a fresh Labour crackdown, schoolchildren will be made to eat pulses once a week and ice cream will be limited. Education Secretary Lucy Powell said the changes are ‘once-in-a-generation’ Credit: EPA Schoolchildren will be made to eat pulses once a week and ice cream will be limited Credit: Getty The new standards will forbid any deep-frying, banning baked chips, as well as pastries, white bread and high sugar cereals. The rules are set to be announced today by the Department for Education. Sign up for The Sun newsletter Thank you! Sugary desserts like cake must contain a portion of fruit – for example an apple crumble served with blueberries – and can only be dished out in primary schools once a week and twice in secondary schools. Processed meat products, including chicken nuggets, sausages and ham, will only be plated once a week and must be served with a portion of fruit or vegetables. Old standards permitted all bread, but now bread must be 50/50, and all pasta 50% wholewheat – and chocolate spread is not allowed. Example menus provided by the DfE suggest schools serve chicken and lentil curry with rice, peas and naan bread on a weekly “pulse day”. The DfE intends to monitor schools’ adherence to the new standards as the institutions will be expected to publish their menus and food policies online. Lucy Powell, the Education Secretary, said: “These are once-in-a-generation changes that will transform school food for children across the country. Most read in The Sun “From our historic expansion of free school meals to the rollout of free breakfast clubs and new school food standards, we are making sure that every child has access to the healthy meals we know children need to learn, grow and succeed. “No child should spend the school day hungry, and no family should have to struggle to put food on the table. This is what change looks like: healthier food, fuller stomachs and a fairer start for every child.” The new rules come more than a decade after celebrity chef Jamie Oliver‘s controversial campaign against unhealthy canteen grub, in particular targeting Turkey Twizzlers. Jamie backs the fresh standards, and said: “Back 20-plus years ago when I started School Dinners I could not believe that we had standards for dog food but not what we serve our children at school. And I’ve never stopped banging that drum. “So it’s brilliant to see new school food standards based on the latest science, to make sure the food children get at school is actually supporting their health and helping them thrive. “And that those standards won’t just live on paper, but have proper monitoring to make sure they’re followed, so we know where we need to deploy care, love and support.” Actress Dame Emma Thompson, who campaigns for the Food Foundation Charity, also supports the reforms. She said: “This is a milestone worth celebrating and an investment in a healthier future for the next generation.” The changes to the food standards comes two weeks after all students from families on universal credit – over three million children – became eligible for free school meals. However, unions warned that schools would need extra funding to comply with the new standards. Paul Whiteman, the general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said: “If the Government is serious about them working in practice it must provide significant additional funding to reflect the real costs of school meals, which these new requirements are likely to increase. “Many schools already have to raid stretched core budgets for staffing and the curriculum to subsidise the costs.” Pepe Di’Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, added: “The current funding rate for free school meals is not enough to cover costs and many schools have to divert money from teaching and learning in order to afford this vital provision. “It is a case of having to rob Peter to pay Paul.” Labour’s new school meal standards will be enforced from next September, with secondary institutions given until September 2028 to comply. 5 comments5