School lunchboxes survey reveals high levels of fat, salt and sugar
Monday 1 September 2003
A new UK survey by the Food Standards Agency reveals today that 9 out of 10 children's school lunchboxes contain food that is too high in saturated fat, salt and sugar.
At lunchtime, children are eating as much as twice the recommended amount of sugar and close to half their daily recommended salt intake. They are also having high levels of saturated fats.
The survey looked at 556 home-packed lunches for children from 24 primary schools across the UK and revealed that up to 40% of the saturated fat content in the lunchboxes came from butter and other fat spreads, up to 25% from cheddar cheese, up to 19% from crisps and up to 14% from chocolate bars and biscuits.
Salt tended to come from foods such as white bread, ham and crisps and the higher levels of sugar came mainly from fizzy drinks, ready-to-drink juice drinks and chocolate-covered bars and biscuits.
‘Small changes to what children eat now can have a big impact on their health in the future.’
To help parents reduce the saturated fat, salt and sugar in their children's packed lunches, the Agency has put together a month’s worth of healthy balanced lunchbox menu suggestions as well as a selection of practical tips.
National standards
The majority of packed lunches, the survey also revealed, would not meet the minimum standards set for primary school meals. In fact, of the surveyed lunchboxes, only 21% met these current national standards, which state that school meals must offer at least:
- one portion of fruit and one portion of vegetables
- one portion of milk or dairy item
- one portion of meat, fish or other protein source
- one portion of a starchy food, such as bread, pasta or rice
The most popular food items found in the children's lunchboxes were a white bread sandwich, which was found in 87% of packed lunches, followed by crisps (71%) a biscuit or chocolate bar (60%) and dairy items such as yoghurts or fromage frais (48%). Fewer than half the packed lunches contained a portion of fruit.
Robert Rees, chef and Board member for the FSA said: ‘Parents face a daily challenge trying to get their children to eat healthy foods, and usually it's the children who call the shots when it comes to deciding what should go in their lunchboxes. Small changes to what children eat now can have a big impact on their diet and health in the future.
‘Equipped with the material from this survey of real lunchboxes, the Agency has been able to provide practical and straightforward advice that will help parents increase the variety of foods they prepare and also take steps to reduce the amount of saturated fat, sugar and salt.
‘Healthy options needn't be boring, and these tips and lunchbox suggestions should be popular not only with parents, but also with the children eating them.’
The FSA commissioned the Community Nutrition Group (part of the British Dietetics Association) to undertake a national survey to collect information on the food and nutrient content of school lunchboxes in the UK. A total of 556 children's lunchboxes were surveyed from 24 schools across the UK during the week of 28 April to 2 May 2003.
Nutritional Guidelines for schools were introduced in 2001 by the Department for Education and Employment (now the Department for Education and Skills) with the aim of improving children's diets. However, fewer than half of all children have a school lunch, the remainder bringing in lunches from home or buying their lunch outside school.
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