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LAST UPDATE | 11 Feb
TEACHERS AND HEALTH experts have been loud in their criticisms of the quality, origins of the ingredients and waste produced by the hot school meals programme, as well as the plastic packaging of food served to children as part of the initiative.
As of September 2024, almost 2,200 schools are availing of hot school meals – the equivalent of around 345,000 primary school children while the government has signalled its intent to further expand the programme.
There are a couple of key questions here. What is the evidence for children benefitting from free school meals? What are the best school lunches around the world and how does Ireland compare? Why is plastic packaging used at all?
Top of the list is the overwhelming evidence for the benefits of school lunches. In Ireland, we know that a healthy diet is out of reach for many families with inadequate disposable incomes — with food costs rising further as children enter secondary school. Research published on the cost of a healthy food basket by Safefood (2023) found that, overall, low-income households need to spend up to a third (35%) of their net income to afford a minimum healthy food basket.
Food costs make up the largest component of a household’s budget for families with children, and the rise in inflation over the course of the last year or two has only exacerbated this. One of the primary means used to tackle children’s experience of food poverty is the provision of school meals.
Data from the Central Statistics Office (2024) from the Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC) showed that in 2023, more than one in five (21.4%) of children were living in deprivation – in one of the wealthiest countries in the world.
Food indicators included in this include being able to afford a roast once a week or being able to afford a meal with meat or vegetables every second day, along with measures related to the social aspects of food such as having friends or family over for a meal.
There is a mountain of evidence showing that introducing universal free meals improves student performance across a range of academic and behavioural outcomes. Extensive research by social scientists and nutritionists concludes that this universal provision improves attendance, academic performance and overall health.
In fact, studies on universal free school meals illustrate that the benefits reach not just children but their families too, by helping to reduce the economic strain on food insecure households’ grocery expenses by almost a fifth (20%).
Universal free school meals cut down on red tape and paperwork for schools while decreasing the stigma of receiving government assistance. Expert analysis indicates that expanding universal free school meals not only aids at-risk children but also helps to tackle root causes of health and educational inequality.
Reports suggest that Irish hot school meals are a bit of a mixed bag in terms of meeting standards set by the Nutrition Standards for Hot School Meals. This was developed by a technical working group led by the Health and Wellbeing Programme in consultation with Safefood and the Healthy Eating and Active Living Programme in the HSE.
However, these standards are not mandatory. Neither is it clear that all lunches are meeting the recommendations around wholemeal bread, rice or pasta and two servings of vegetables, salad or fruit with each meal.
In terms of processed foods such as meat products, fried or battered foods or use of pastry ‘should only be provided once a week maximum, if at all.’
What this means is that foods such as sausages and chicken nuggets can be provided in a fifth of the lunches provided. The standards advise that they should be matched with a healthier alternative — how many kids are going to choose to avoid the processed food options?
Food policy lecturer at University College Cork, Ruth Hegarty commented recently that some foods delivered through the scheme were loaded with processed foods, known to cause a range of serious and life-threatening diseases.
The HSE national clinical lead for obesity, Prof Donal O’Shea, recently told RTÉ’s Upfront with Katie Hannon that the scheme needed to be evaluated before it was rolled out nationally.
“We should not be providing ultra-processed anything under this scheme,” he added.
So how do free school lunches in Ireland compare to options provided in other countries?
As one of the wealthiest countries in the world, shouldn’t school lunches in Ireland be in the bracket of the healthiest and most nutritious?
The Japanese programme is considered to be one of the best in the world. Lunch is made fresh by cooks who work in the school. Lunch almost always includes fresh vegetables, along with a type of soup. But it’s not just the food itself. Japan takes lunchtime as an opportunity to teach kids about etiquette while eating, and how to have good table manners as well as teaching from an early age about the importance of healthy, fresh ingredients and limiting processed foods.
In his book, Magic Pill, Johann Hari describes how every school in Japan must by law employ a nutritionist who designs the school meals, in line with strict requirements around fresh healthy ingredients. The nutritionist oversees the cooking of the food and uses mealtimes to educate children about nutrition. The nutritionist also educates the parents on what to feed their children. Finally, counselling and support are provided to children who are overeating or undereating.
School lunches in France are unique in that they tend to have four courses, starting from the age of three. This makes the French lunch very special, giving students 40% of their daily caloric intake just at school. A typical lunch consists of brie, green beans, carrots, rare steak, kiwi and apples.
All food that is served is freshly made and is reviewed by certified dieticians.
As in Japan, French students have specific manners and systems centred around their lunch. It is quite orderly and aligned with the excellent quality of the food, the French school lunch is seen as one of the world’s best.
A school lunch in Greece includes baked chicken with orzo, stuffed grape leaves, cucumber and tomato salad, yoghurt, pomegranate seeds and clementines.
Lunch in Brazil includes rice with black beans, baked plantain, pork with red peppers and coriander, green salad and a bread roll.
An Italian school lunch typically includes fish, pasta, two types of salad, with a bread roll and red grapes.
Contrast to a typical school lunch in the US consisting of popcorn chicken with ketchup, mashed potatoes, green peas, a fruit cup and a chocolate chip cookie.
Irish school lunches are a mixed bag including options such as roast chicken and ham with mash, carrots and peas; but also, pasta Bolognese, macaroni and cheese, chicken goujons, fish fingers, sausages and marinara meatballs.
Ruth Hegarty suggested that the government should look at how the service could be provided in-house in the future, with a focus on Irish producers rather than importing ingredients including meat from abroad.
Using Irish producers for hot school meals would provide Irish fruit and vegetable producers with a huge potential year-round market for fresh produce grown locally.
Providing students with an in-house buffet rather than a plastic container would mean they could pick the options they prefer in terms of meat or fish but also the vegetables or salads they are more likely to eat rather than discard. Fruit, salads and vegetables could be offered separately without being covered in a gravy or sauce from a jar.
Plastic packaging would be kept to a minimum and students could pick the portion size that best meets their needs. Homemade soup is also an ideal vehicle for getting extra hidden vegetables into students.
A good start would be to look at our neighbours in Europe and see how they are managing to provide two or three portions of vegetables with fruit every day along with meat or fish.
Imagine if that was on offer in Irish schools — where children could choose what they like and how much they need to fill them up in the middle of the day. What would that do for food poverty, cost of living, school attendance, behaviour, concentration, learning and child wellbeing?
Dr Catherine Conlon is a public health doctor and former director of human health and nutrition, safefood – all views her own.
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