School food

Some time in the last 20 years or so, school dinners mutated from compulsory stew and rice pudding into a choice of burgers, pizzas and chips. There has been no advance since. The progress supermarkets have made in offering healthy food has passed school meals by. And at 37p per meal - the amount allowed for ingredients - this should be no surprise. But with child obesity rising up the agenda, it is in everyone's interest to improve school eating. If the much-maligned Jamie Oliver can lend his super-chef status to making school meals more nutritious, and persuading pupils to eat them, he will have done us all a favour.

Some time in the last 20 years or so, school dinners mutated from compulsory stew and rice pudding into a choice of burgers, pizzas and chips. There has been no advance since. The progress supermarkets have made in offering healthy food has passed school meals by. And at 37p per meal - the amount allowed for ingredients - this should be no surprise. But with child obesity rising up the agenda, it is in everyone's interest to improve school eating. If the much-maligned Jamie Oliver can lend his super-chef status to making school meals more nutritious, and persuading pupils to eat them, he will have done us all a favour.