Obesity initiative targets English school food
healthy school food and tackle childhood obesity has been launched
in England.
The new government package, which features a raft of measures including a £240m subsidy towards healthy ingredients until 2011, is in addition to the £220m already going to schools and local authorities to support the new nutritional standards, which start when schools return this week.
"We have already invested heavily to radically transform school food and with today's announcement of extra funding we're taking another big step to ensure parents know pupils will get the nutrients they need during the school day and that school cooks get the kitchens and training they need to deliver healthier food," said Secretary of State for Education and Skills Alan Johnson MP.
"But tackling obesity and encouraging a healthy lifestyle is not just about the food that children eat at school, we must also teach them the skills they need to cook so that they continue to eat healthily in later life.
"Our food reforms and extra money will ensure healthy school meals are the norm in every school, every day."
The launch of the programme comes just days after the publication of a new UK government report into obesity. The department of health (DoH) study, which forecasts what levels of obesity in England may be in 2010 if current trends in obesity prevalence continue unchanged, makes for frightening reading.
More than 12 million adults and 1 million children will be obese by 2010, and the growing obesity crisis is expected to cause thousands more people to suffer related diseases like cancer, heart disease and Type 2 diabetes.
Obesity among boys stood at 17 per cent in 2003 and is predicted to rise to 19 per cent by 2010, while among girls it is expected to increase from 16 to 22 per cent.
Obesity now costs the NHS around £1.6bn a year and the UK economy a further £2.3bn of indirect costs. If this trend continues, the annual cost to the economy could be £3.6bn a year by 2010.
Politicians are therefore increasingly focussing their efforts on tackling obesity among children and targeting schemes that are designed to instil healthy habits early on. Under the scheme unveiled this week for example, pupils will be entitled to cookery courses in secondary schools from 2008, and there will be specific funding for building kitchens.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) will also help increase the capacity of small and local producers to bid successfully to supply fruit, vegetable, dairy and meat for school meals either directly or via wholesalers and other primary suppliers.
This, say politicians, will include encouraging more farmers and growers to work together to supply schools with sustainable, fresh produce. Defra is also planning to launch a Year of Farming and Food to help improve young peoples' understanding of where food comes from.
The package of measures is intended to build on the money, training and improvements that have already been delivered to every school in every local authority. A recent School Food Trust survey showed that spending per plate last term was already 52p for primary schools and 67p for secondary schools.
A survey carried out by Sustain in April this year found that local authorities said they are ready and willing to meet the new standards for food when they come into force in September 2006.
