20 May 2005
The body charged with overhauling the quality of school meals met for the first time this week to begin work on developing minimum nutritional standards.
The School Meals Review Panel was set up following TV chef Jamie Oliver's high-profile campaign to give schoolchildren a healthy, balanced diet. Chaired by Suzi Leather, former deputy chair of the Food Standards Agency, it includes dieticians and nutritionists as well as head teachers, governors and catering staff.
The panel will produce draft standards by the autumn. Schools will be obliged to comply with the final result from September 2006.
The panel will also consider whether there are grounds for eliminating certain foodstuffs altogether and will advise on the costs and benefits of changes to menus.
'No one should live a shorter and unhealthier life because they ate school food,' Leather said. 'Standards for school food should be the best we can do, not the most we can get away with.'
PFmay2005
