The Government has come under fire from a major school caterer for "inflicting" healthy eating on it without providing extra funding.
In April 2001 the Government introduced minimum nutritional standards. Primary school caterers must provide fruit and one vegetable every day, fish at least once a week, red meat twice a week, and fried food no more than three days a week.
Roger Denton, head of catering for the London Borough of Sutton, speaking at the Food Service in the Public Sector conference in London last week, also accused healthy eating of being media hype.
"The Government has latched on to healthy eating and inflicted it on us whether our customers want it or not. It's certainly a turn-off for most people, especially children," he added.
His comments come at a time when school meals are under scrutiny. Diabetes and obesity levels in children are at their highest, and celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has attacked school meals for being unhealthy.
Denton's views were supported by the British Hospitality Association. "It's not clear how much 'improvement' can be made when there is such inadequate funding," commented chief executive Bob Cotton.
But a spokeswoman for the Local Authority Caterers Association said the majority of its members were committed to healthy-eating initiatives. Beverley Baker, head of commercial services for Surrey County Council, said she had removed fizzy drinks from school vending machines even though it meant losing money.
Baker did not believe it was simply a funding issue. "If you look at what local authorities are allocated to spend their money on, you might think school meals were quite a low priority. It's not an issue you can look at in isolation," she said.
More than one speaker at the conference blamed behind-the-times suppliers. Preformed breaded products were criticised as unhealthy and according to Jim Walker, chief executive of Initial Catering Services, 48 out of 50 suppliers don't know the Government's nutritional guidelines.