More than three-quarters of school meals breach food standards, warns campaign

More than three in four publicly accessible secondary school menus do not comply with current 2014 School Food Standards, according to research by youth activist group Bite Back.

 

The healthy eating campaign examined a representative sample of 500 state-funded secondary schools across England and found downloadable menus for almost 400. Of those, 76% contained an identifiable violation of the current standards, ahead of the roll-out of improved standards in September 2027.

 

The analysis found repeated unhealthy options offered during breakfast and break times, including crisps and branded confectionery.

 

A total of 224 schools (57%) provided meat products such as burgers, nuggets, sausages and goujons more often than the twice a week permitted by the existing standards.

 

Hash browns, which as a fried starchy food should be a menu option only twice a week, were being offered more often than that at 144 schools (37%).

 

There were 123 schools (31%) using chocolate in solid form, such as chocolate chips or as a chocolate coating, as an ingredient in dessert or bakes, despite it being banned.

 

The findings align with additional insights from the same polling where one in five children were being served snacks such as biscuits, crisps, chocolate and sweets almost every day.

 

Of the menus where no violation was identified, almost none included their break menu options, which usually account for most other menu violations.

 

Bite Back said the findings show the government has both an opportunity and a public mandate to ensure more children receive nutritious and delicious school food, and that the companies contracted to provide it are meeting the School Food Standards.

 

Under the updated standards, deep-fried foods will be completely banned, grab-and-go options will be removed from daily menus and all desserts will be made up of at least 50% fruit.

 

Bite Back is calling for the final standards to cover the whole school day, require complete and accessible menus to be published online, and be supported by a properly resourced compliance system of independent monitoring and enforcement.

 

D’Arcy Williams, chief executive of Bite Back, said: “These findings are very alarming and expose a system that is fundamentally failing our children. It is shocking to find crisps and chocolate being pushed at breakfast time or processed meats like sausage rolls and bacon baps being served far more frequently than the rules allow.

 

“Young people have been telling us for years that their school food is ‘beige, bland and boring’ and now we have more evidence that they are being surrounded by unhealthy food throughout the school day. Schools should be a sanctuary for health and learning, yet the current postcode lottery of food quality is undermining that mission.”

 

He added: “Schools need the support to deliver, but the companies making money from feeding children must also be held accountable. Ministers now have an opportunity to ensure the new rules are transparent, independently monitored and properly enforced, so every child gets the food they need to learn and thrive.”

 

Stephanie Slater, the founder and chief executive of the charity School Food Matters, said: “With these incoming improved standards we have a once in a generation opportunity to raise the quality of school food for every child. But standards without a robust compliance framework will miss this opportunity. And that can only happen through a combination of collaborative efforts from school leaders, Food Standards Agency and Ofsted.”

 

Brad Pearce, chair of the School Food People (formerly LACA), responded to the research saying: “These findings underline why the government’s review of the School Food Standards is so important. Every child should have access to a nutritious, high-quality meal at school, and schools and caterers need the right framework and support to deliver that consistently.

 

“It is important to recognise that published menus do not always tell the full story of what is served in schools, and that schools and catering teams are working under significant financial, staffing and operational pressures. The answer should not be to place more pressure on schools, but to make sure the whole system is properly equipped to meet the standards expected of it.”

 

Bite Back warned earlier this year that a harmful “grab-and-go culture” is taking hold of schools. Its campaign is also supported by chef Jamie Oliver.

 

The proposed new School Food Standards will follow the expansion of free school meals from September 2026 to any child in England whose parents receive Universal Credit, which the government estimated will apply to 500,000 more pupils.

 

Caterers had previously called for clarity over how the uplift in meal provision would be funded, with major funding shortfalls already existing and schools forced to subsidise the service from their education budgets.

 

The Department for Education responded to concerns with the launch of a free school meal expansion grant announced in May, however, this only comes into force in February 2027. The School Food People’s Pearce stressed that the proposed free school meal rate in England of £2.66 per pupil per day remains “far below what is needed to cover current food and labour costs”.

 

Image: Bite Back/David Madden Photography