Schools in England face checks to root out unhealthy lunches

Schools could be reprimanded if they serve food containing too much fat, salt or sugar under new checks to ensure pupils receive healthy lunches.

The Department for Education is finalising plans for a promised “robust national enforcement system” to ensure all 21,500 state-funded schools in England comply with existing nutrition standards.

Schools are under a legal duty to abide by the standards, which are intended to tackle childhood obesity. But the lack of effective monitoring means that violations mostly go undetected, even though they are widespread.

Three-quarters of secondary schools serve unhealthy foods such as chips, burgers and hash browns more often than they are allowed, research found last week.

Ministers at the DfE want to fix the problem by expanding the role of environmental health officers (EHOs) so they can check the standards when they inspect school kitchens, according to well-placed sources.

Schools found to be breaching the standards would be told to improve the quality of the food they provide and given help to do so.

In April, the DfE committed to “developing a robust national enforcement system, including monitoring schools’ compliance”. The enforcement regime is expected to start in September 2027, to give schools time to overhaul the food they offer.

The standards, which became mandatory in 2014, limit provision of fatty, salty and sugary meals and snacks and promote much more nutritious fare.

The DfE announced in April that it would require every school to appoint a lead governor to be responsible for food and publish a policy and menu online. But campaigners, including School Food Matters and celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, have persuaded ministers that tougher regulation is needed.

Ministers and DfE officials have been studying detailed proposals from the School Food Review, an alliance of 38 diet, education and children’s health organisations. They want the Food Standards Agency and Ofsted to be given new powers to ensure compliance by schools.

Lucy Powell, the education secretary, appears to prefer expanding the FSA’s remit as the best way of improving compliance. The DfE, FSA and Office for Health Improvement and Disparities have been discussing the feasibility of EHOs taking on the extra role.

Prof Susan Jebb, a nutrition and obesity expert who is the chair of the FSA, is said by sources to be “enthusiastic” about the prospect of improved compliance.

The DfE has spoken to the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health, which represents EHOs and is in favour of the change. However, local council leaders are worried that a fall in EHO numbers means the officers would struggle to discharge the new responsibility alongside their existing duty to inspect a wide range of premises that serve food, including cafes and restaurants.

The DfE’s thinking has been influenced by the results of a pilot exercise in 2022/23 in which EHOs in 18 council areas checked whether schools were complying with the rules.

The checks added only 15 to 30 minutes to existing hygiene inspections, were “straightforward to administer” and schools were “happy to facilitate the checks”, the FSA’s evaluation found.

Some of the schools found to be non-compliant improved their food offer but others did not. Some that were flouting the standards erected “significant barriers” to attempts by councils to get them to provide healthier dishes.

The DfE was approached for comment.