new school food manifesto

"As many of you know I released my new school food manifesto this week outlining my concerns for school food in England today and the actions I think need to be taken by government to ensure our kids continue to get the great all round food education they need to feed themselves better in the future and to help reduce the crippling rise in obesity. I have been overwhelmed and delighted by the support I have received from you guys out there for the manifesto. So thanks and big love to my fellow school food campaigners, school caterers, the press and the general public.... the fight continues....."
Jamie Oliver

Check out what others have been saying here...

LACA
Food for Life
Garden Organic

new school food manifesto

As many of you know I released my new school food manifesto this week outlining my concerns for school food in England today and the actions I think need to be taken by government to ensure our kids continue to get the great all round food education they need to feed themselves better in the future and to help reduce the crippling rise in obesity. I have been overwhelmed and delighted by the support I have received from you guys out there for the manifesto. So thanks and big love to my fellow school food campaigners, school caterers, the press and the general public.... the fight continues.....

Jamie Oliver

Check out what others have been saying here...

• LACA
• Food for Life
• Garden Organic

synopsis

In 2005, my TV series Jamie’s School Dinners went out on Channel 4, and I officially kicked off my Feed Me Better campaign to get decent food into Britain’s schools. That seems like such a long time ago now, but school food is still a massively important issue to me, as I’m sure it is to all of you. It still gets talked about all the time in the British press,and there are some truly brilliant and inspiring schools, headteachers, caterers and dinner ladies out there doing great things to make sure the food they serve our kids is healthy and nutritious. Big love to them!

Over the past 5 or 6 years, big changes have been made to school food. These changes are still going strong today and,to be honest, we’ve advanced much further than I first thought we would. We’ve all learned a lot, and I can’t tell you how wonderful it is to see so many people committed to feeding our children better at school; it makes the blood, sweat and tears of the early days of the campaign totally worth it.

But our work is far from over. Childhood obesity is still a problem. The UK has the highest rate of childhood obesity in Europe, with 25% of young people being classified as obese or overweight. In 2005 I said that this would be a long road, and it will be.I know I will stick with it, and I hope you will too. Have a look through my school food pages to find out what I’ve been up to as the fight for better school food continues.

Jamie Oliver

Why is school food important?

There is an obesity epidemic in this country,and the emotional and financial costs of this epidemic are huge. The UK has the highest rate of childhood obesity in Europe, with 25% of young people being classified as obese or overweight. The Government’s Foresight report suggests this will only get worse, with 40% of Britons expected to beobese by 2025 – unless we all do something about it.

A school meal accounts for one-third of a child’s daily nutritional intake. For many children up and down the country, the majority of food they are fed at home is either made up of ready meals, takeaways or – in the worst cases – nothing at all. This means the meal they eat at school will be the only nutritious food they eat that day. Encouraging children to make better food choices at school is absolutely vital.

Jamie has long advocated that children who are fed better, do better. Recent research supports this and has proved that no matter what background a child is from, a hot, nutritious meal at lunchtime improves their behaviour and concentration in the classroom in the afternoon. This is yet another reason why school meals should matter to everyone who cares about the future of the UK’s children.