Catering vans will make healthy food available to pupils

Nov 16 2006 By Emily Henderson

A CATERING van selling healthy food is being introduced to the grounds of Holy Cross High as part of a Jamie Oliver-style initiative aimed at improving the quality of school meals.

The ‘Hungry for Success’ programme, costing £485,000 a year, was approved by South Lanarkshire Council’s community resources committee on Tuesday.

There are currently 45,000 pupils in South Lanarkshire schools, and since April of this year, over 1.5 million school meals have been served.

The Scottish Executive has recommended that ‘Hungry for Success’ is implemented in all secondary schools by the end of this year, with new menus being launched on November 27.

It is proposed in the community resources report that “in order to support the principles of ‘Hungry for Success’, the mobile catering van would be situated in the campus of the school “initially on a pilot basis”.

It adds that “it is anticipated that pupils will use the council’s own supplementary catering outlet and experience a nutritious and healthy range of food.”

The council decided to pilot this scheme as “experience and evidence gathered through the consultative process has revealed that some pupils simply prefer not to use the school dining room”, which often “has nothing to do with the quality or range of food on offer within the dining room.”

One other catering van is to be put in the grounds of Duncanrig High School in East Kilbride, and the three-year lease cost of both catering vans will be £19,600.

The council’s report also states that since November of last year, a consultation on the programme has been taking place where “in all 21 of the existing secondary school Health Promoting Groups were engaged to gather comments and views on a wide range of subjects” including menu development, pre-ordering service, catering environments, vending, tuck shops and breakfast services, and external catering competition.

The council hope that pre-ordering will “tackle barriers like queue reduction and levels of waste”, as well as “the increased level of pupil satisfaction given the guaranteed provision of their preferred meal.”

In tuck shops and vending machines, it is proposed that “only approved products are to be sold in line with the desire to encourage a healthier lifestyle for pupils and to complement the school drive for Health Promoting School status.”

At breakfast services also, only approved products would be sold such as milk, fresh apple or orange juice, and sugar-free cereals.