Coronavirus: Heinz offers to provide free breakfasts for children in need following school closures

'No child should be left too hungry to learn, whether they are in school or not'

Heinz has pledged to provide 12 million breakfasts to school children at risk of starting the day hungry without their usual free school meal.

On Friday, schools, nurseries and colleges across the UK shut their doors in a bid to prevent the coronavirus from spreading.

The new measures have raised a number of concerns among pupils, parents and teachers, including whether or not children in need will still receive free school meals.

While the government has announced it is launching a national voucher scheme, Heinz has come forward to help ensure children eligible for free school meals will continue to have access to hot food during the school closures.

Sharing a post titled “Breakfast isn’t going anywhere” across its social media channels, the food company announced that it was committed to providing 12 million free breakfasts for the many school children who still need them the most.

“That equates to one breakfast a day, five days a week for eight weeks for the school children who would usually benefit from access to breakfast club programmes,” Heinz said.

To reach those in need and provide them access to these meals, Heinz is working with Magic Breakfast, a charity which provides healthy school breakfasts to hungry and malnourished children in disadvantaged areas of the UK.

JoJo de Noronha, president of Kraft Heinz Northern Europe, said the brand’s commitment means that children who usually benefit from Magic Breakfast provision at school will have access to a Heinz Beanz breakfast, five days a week for at least eight weeks from this Monday.

“Together with Magic Breakfast, we are also committed to finding other organisations that can help us reach even more children, parents, carers and teachers during this difficult time,” de Noronha explained.

“We are encouraging other organisations and companies to come forward with any support possible to ensure no child goes hungry due to these unfortunate school closures.”

Alex Cunningham, CEO of Magic Breakfast, echoed the sentiment, adding that no child should be left “too hungry to learn, whether they are in school or not”.

“We are working closely with our partner schools to establish the best way to reach hungry children throughout this period of uncertainty,” Cunningham said.

“Thank you to Heinz for continuing to work with us during this period of school closures and providing children with the nutrition they need.”

Education secretary Gavin Williamson has confirmed that food vouchers redeemable in shops and supermarkets would be given to schools to provide “flexibility” for eligible children and that the government will reimburse costs.

It came after school leaders said they had already started to hand out vouchers to children they were worried would miss out on hot meals amid the closures.

The government hopes that a number of schools will still be able to open and offer hot meals to eligible pupils – if there is enough staff to provide this service.

While most pupils will no longer attend lessons, the government has stated that children of key workers, including NHS and public transport staff, and vulnerable children will still be catered for.

The closures mean that all exams due to be sat in May and June have been cancelled, including GCSEs, A-levels and Sats.