Parents force schools to dump 'junk' food firms

Schools across London are rebelling against unhealthy food.

A wave of anger generated by Jamie Oliver's School Dinners TV series has had a huge impact on canteen menus, the Evening Standard has found.

More than a dozen London schools have ditched their private caterer in this academic year alone. Others have forced their contractor to switch to an organic menu or spend more on better-quality ingredients.

In some parts of the capital there is growing fury that councils have locked themselves into lengthy contracts with private companies.

However, the uprising is taking a financial toll on the firms that have won most of the contracts. The biggest, Scolarest - owned by contract catering giant Compass - has suffered a dramatic squeeze on profitssay City analysts. Our survey looked at school meals in all 33 London boroughs.

The "parent power" stand began at St Paul's primary school in Primrose Hill. When parents raided the kitchen in January they found packet food, reconstituted meat and virtually no fresh vegetables or fruit. Since then three more schools in Camden have rejected the service provided by Scolares, the council's appointed caterer.

South Camden Community School, Brookfield Primary School and Parliament Hill School have wrested back control over food. Parliament Hill headteacher Christine Peters said: "Over the last 18 months I have had meetings with managers identifying quality of food issues. The necessary improvements have not been made and I wasn't prepared to carry on. It is many pupils' main meal of the day and we have a responsibility to provide a different, healthy choice, not just chips and pizza."

In the north-east London borough of Havering three schools have pulled out of the council's in-house service this year. A council spokesman said: "The main reason given by schools is if they can run the catering themselves they can reinvest the profit to supply better-quality ingredients."

In Barking and Dagenham Mark Lloyd, head of specialist sports college Barking Abbey, feared processed food would compromise his pupils' performance. His catering manager found a farmers' market that could

supply organic jacket potatoes for less than those supplied through the council. Barking Abbey opted out a year ago, ditched all processed food and now ploughs profits back into paying dinner ladies to peel and chop vegetables.

They have noticed an improvement in concentration. "We want to feed our kids the best we can afford," said head of catering Ruth Watts, 54. "We make it all, so I know exactly what the kids are eating."

Mrs Watts gets her meat from the local butcher and most fruit and vegetables from an organic farm in Essex. "The farm manager has become one of our governors and the children visit the farm and see how their food is grown," she said.

Another of her suppliers paid for all the children to eat from china plates instead of plastic trays.

Kensington and Chelsea - where six schools have pulled out of the council contract - has become the first authority in the country to force its caterers to go organic after pressure from parents. All food will be freshly prepared, GM-free and sourced from organic farms.

By contrast, primary schools in Hammersmith and Fulham can serve chips up to three days out of

five, compared with one day a week in most London primaries.

In Merton, a campaign group has attracted more than 120 parents to its first meeting this month. Jackie Schneider, of Merton Parents for Better School Dinners, said the borough threatened to withhold cash for new school buildings unless governors accepted a 25-year contract with Scolarest. Campaign chairman Chris Larkman, a parent-governor of Rutlish School, said: "The feedback from the kids and the teachers was that the food was disgusting. We went in as parents and tasted it and, sure enough, it was gross and horrible."

Mr Larkman said the campaign will monitor what Scolarest serves on a daily basis "to make damn certain" it is satisfactory.

According to the Soil Association, children eating school meals all week consume 40 per cent more fat, 28 per cent more saturated fat and 20 per cent more sugar than recommended.

Rose Gray, co-founder of the River Café ©n Hammersmith and the charity Cooks In Schools, said: "If children eat a lot of sugar and salt first thing they become hyperactive and then go to sleep. How are they supposed to learn or do sport in the afternoon?"