Signatures have tipped the 700 mark today as support for School Meals Matter gathers pace, so a big thank you to everyone who has signed so far.

Well done to those who have made photocopies and posted in bundles of signed forms.

A very enterprising bunch at an Eden Foodservice site in Llangefni, Wales did particularly well - they sent in 50 forms today!

If you haven't already, please sign the form now so we can reach our first milestone of 1,000 signatures.

And if you have, why not tell your friends and colleagues about the importance of school meals.

Sign below, or alternatively you can download the form to post. Can you beat Eden's record of 50 forms?

Efforts to improve the quality of school meals could all be in vain if canteens aren't made fit for purpose, according to new research.

An independent study, carried out on behalf of the School Food Trust (SFT) as part of its Canteen Rescue campaign launched today, found that poor quality canteens are the biggest barrier to children's uptake of school food.

The report highlights cramped canteen layouts, poorly-managed queuing systems, inefficient payment methods and high noise levels among several environmental factors that contribute to low school meal uptake.

Judy Hargadon, SFT chief executive, said: "It is clear that when children walk into a dining hall that is crowded, noisy and unattractive, they will vote with their feet - no matter what is on the menu.

"The danger is that the huge efforts which have gone into improving the quality of school food will quite literally go in the bin unless schools tackle the environment in which it is served."

The Canteen Rescue campaign aims to encourage schools to implement simple measures that will drive take-up of school meals and, with it, the nutritional intake of pupils.

In a bid to track the eating behaviours of children in primary and secondary schools, the SFT conducted further experiments and found that even small improvements to dining spaces can make young people eat more school food.

As a result of minor changes to the canteen environment, such as staggering lunch queues to give children more time to eat, introducing tablecloths and replacing plastic plates, knives and forks with crockery and cutlery, the SFT found that the average child threw away 38% less food.

Jane Nicholls, deputy head teacher of Langley Park Girls School where one of the experiments took place, said that the small changes made to the dining room made a huge difference to the pupils. "It turned lunch into a special occasion where the girls took the time to sit down and really appreciate their food.

"It has made it obvious to us that encouraging healthy eating is as much about providing an attractive environment as improving the food".

Here at SMM we consider the food children eat to be very important.

A balanced and nutritious diet can enhance academic performance for example, behaviour can improve and above all it can keep kids healthy.

So we were pretty horrified to see what constitutes food for some of our American cousins across the pond. Thankfully, so are they!

Momlogic, a US parenting site, lists its top 10 foods to "never, ever let your kids eat", and judging by the names alone it's easy to see why.

The list includes food concepts we never knew existed.

Such as Liquid Cereal, a "combination of real cereal and fat-free milk blended into a satisfying beverage". And served in a can. Nice.

Not the pick-me-up your child was hoping for? Why not chuck a bag of "highly" Caffeinated Chips their way (that's crisps to us Brits). That should see them through the morning register.

If you're concerned their energy levels haven't been pinged around enough for one day, slip a pack of Mess In Your Mouth Lunchables in their school bag. A ham, cheese and cracker snack with the unusual addition of popping candy.

That's right. Mess. In your mouth.

Good luck Michelle. It looks like you'll need it more than us.

Visit Momlogic for the full, quite literally disgusting, top 10.

Rob Rees, last week appointed chairman of the School Food Trust, is calling on school headteachers to adopt a lunchtime lock-in policy in a bid to encourage healthy eating habits.

The former chef, who took over the role from television cook Prue Leith, spoke to the Independent: "I would like headteachers to have a policy of no one being offsite during lunchtime. Schools that have done this have found improvements in behaviour in the afternoon."

He added that schools unwilling to detain children at lunchtime should at least demand that local fast-food outlets provide healthier fare.

"If you're going to let them off site, at least negotiate with the local chippie not to put salt cellars out for them," he said. "That tiny thing can make a difference. There's enough salt in the fish and chips anyway."

This week Caterer and Hotelkeeper launches a campaign to gain a commitment from the incoming Government to support the school meals service and continue investment in the wellbeing of the nation's children.

The School Meals Matter campaign, in association with the Local Authority Caterers Association (LACA), is designed to promote the importance of healthy, nutritious school meals and keep school meals provision at the top of the political agenda.

It is widely recognised that healthy food positively influences concentration and behaviour. Encouraging young children to take an interest in food will help contribute to lifelong healthy eating habits and create a new generation of food-lovers and food service professionals.

In the UK at present, one in four children aged four is obese and this figure rises to one in three in 11-year-olds. As obesity rates have soared, so has the number of cases of type 2 diabetes, which is linked to lifestyle. Between 1997 and 2003 there was a 74% increase in new cases of diabetes, costing the National Health Service £1m an hour to treat.