Chewy pizza, lumpy mash, gloopy rice pudding, custard with skin, burgers, chips and more chips - school dinners.
| I don’t think children are born with an allergy to broccoli. Of course junk food is nice, but so is other food. |
But not for long.
All schools must now offer plenty of healthy foods on the menu. There is a problem, though - junk food stays.
Beverley Baker of the local authority caterers association (LACA) does not see a problem: "Chips are fine. What matters is that you don't eat only those things - that you eat plenty of other foods as well."
How can schools be sure that their pupils will not simply stick to their favourite junk food? Minister Jacqui Smith claims at least they now have a choice. She goes on to say: "I don't think children are born with an allergy to broccoli. Of course junk food is nice, but so is other food".
Zak feels the minister is being too optimistic: "The Government can try and get us to eat healthily but, at the end of the day, it is still our choice. If we want to eat chips every day we will - even if there is a lot of other healthy food there too."
Della, Elly and Zak are not confident that the new menus will have much effect. If the Government really wants to see a move away from junk food, there needs to be more education in healthy eating and better sports facilities.
Only then are we likely to create slimmer, healthier school children in the future.
About the team
This article was produced by Della Hicks-Wilson, 15, Elly Gordon, 14, and Zak Garner-Purkis, 13. It was published in The Newspaper.
