University News Last updated 05 September 2014
Mel Wakeman, Senior Lecturer in Applied Physiology at Birmingham City University believes that Schools have had insufficient time to roll out the governments free school meals plan. Under the new plans, from this term all four to seven-year-olds in infant schools in England will be entitled to a free hot meal at lunchtime.
"This initiative has been introduced very quickly; schools have had insufficient time to adequately prepare for September, particularly those that have had to make significant changes to how they provide meals and undertake any training that is required" says Mel.
"With reports coming out that ‘emergency and maintenance’ funds are being used to help schools meet the September target, the long term picture is looking bleak.
"The other issue is that in this tight period of time, I doubt there has been sufficient time to assess the original school meal provision – how can we effectively assess if this new strategy is working if we have no baseline to compare it with?"
Although Mel raises the above concerns, she believes that if the scheme works, it has the potential to improve children's diets and eating habits.
"The guidelines developed are aimed at helping children develop healthy eating habits and ensure they get the energy and nutrition they need across the whole school day. The standards indicate the food types to be included in the school day so the meal plans will be balanced and healthy (and of suitable portion size too)."