'Draconian' Prue Leith explains why she believes school lunchboxes should be banned
Many people have fond memories of taking a packed lunch to school, but Dame Prue Leith has called for a ban.
The former Great British Bake Off host says her 'draconian' request is for a good reason though, as she wants to see a 'revolution' in what children are eating at school.
Leith, 86, opened up about her reasoning for the suggestion: “I’m being much more draconian… I think we should ban lunchboxes because you can’t police what parents put in."
She acknowledged the pressure many parents face from kids for what they want to see at lunchtime.
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“It’s very hard if you’re a mum walking around a supermarket with your child, and a child wants to have that chocolate bar and whatever in their lunchbox, it’s really hard because it’s an easy way of sort of pleasing a child, and it’s an easy way of almost buying love," she insisted.
To replace the lunchboxes, the TV icon said she wants to see compulsory free school meals for every child.
Her call comes after the news that the children of families who are on universal credit will be eligible for free school meals from September.
The move is to try to improve school food standards, in an attempt to tackle childhood obesity as well as tooth decay.
The Dame said: “It’s the first time in my long life of campaigning for better school food that I’ve actually felt there’s a government that is at least a little bit interested in getting food right in schools.”
She continyed “If children eat junk and they don’t like healthy food and they’re not given healthy food, they will not be healthy.
Leith wants to share her passion for food and cooking with the next generation: “But I’m not only keen on learning to like good food for health. I think it’s such a joy and such an interest. I think it’s a lost opportunity for pleasure.”
She also stressed how undervalued many kitchen school staff are, and said they instead of just remaining in the kitchen or behind the scenes, they could instead be used to help educate children.
Leith also praised the Chefs in Schools charity, saying: “At last the government is doing something about it, and Chefs in Schools and their partners in the School Food Project are showing that there is a route to getting it right,” Dame Prue said.
“It’s no good just making those rules if you don’t give the schools help to get there, and so the combination of the government saying we should do this and the School Food Project saying this is how you do it, we should really see a revolution in school dinners.”
In addition to Chef in Schools, there is another food charity which was set up by Jamie Oliver, called Bite Back.
Bite Back assessed menus from almost 400 state secondary schools in England, and the findings weren't good, according to The Independent.
More than three-quarters of the menus had at least one breach of the current standards.
This includes things like burgers, nuggets and hash browns being included on the menu.
The new scheme is looking to increase fibre intake for students, by providing more fruit, vegetables and wholegrains.
It has been reported that favourites such as sausage rolls and pizza will no longer be served every day.
Instead, kids will be served dishes like spaghetti Bolognese, Mexican-style burritos, cottage pie with root-veg mash, jerk chicken with rice and peas and roasted chickpea, vegetable and mozzarella wraps
It comes as new research found that around one in three children are leaving primary school overweight or obese.
Modelling by the Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) found that the majority of children will be overweight or obese in nine areas of England by 2035.
The statistics were 'deeply concerning', said the researchers, and that if things do not change then child obesity rates are set to worsen across 90% of the country.
Jen Thomas