22 July 2005
The public sector should use its considerable purchasing power to procure healthier food, the chief medical officer has urged.
Sir Liam Donaldson this week said that recent efforts to ensure better nutritional standards in schools and hospitals had fallen short of requirements.
'The public sector spends nearly £2bn a year on food and catering for hospitals, schools, prisons, meals on wheels and the armed forces,' he said.
'The sector serves over 1.8 billion meals a year — they need to be healthier and more nutritionally balanced. The public sector should use its huge financial muscle… to improve the nation's health.'
In his annual report, Donaldson called for the methodology for demonstrating value for money to be broadened to include longer-term health benefits.
Donaldson criticised school meals' reliance on processed and semi-prepared foods high in fat, sugar and salt. But he said a £280m funding package for school meals announced earlier this year presented a 'superb opportunity' to improve nutritional quality.
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