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25 July 2022
As the cost of living crisis worsens, children and families living in poverty will face grim choices over summer as they spend weeks without school meals.
Our Policy Officer, Laura Chan, comments on the issue of pushing unhealthy options onto children and families who are struggling to afford food.
Last week, David Buttress, government appointed ‘cost of living tsar’, recommended families in the UK make the most of discounted or free meals, such as those being provided by Asda, Tesco and Morrison’s cafés, over the summer holiday. This included a "kids eat for £1" offer in Asda and "kids eat free" with an adult paying customer in Morrisons.
While Holiday Activity and Food (HAF) sites are supported by local authorities to make good food available to children who are eligible and able to attend[1], the food on the high street is just not up to the mark.
Supermarket giants need to up their game
In 2019, the Soil Association’s Out to Lunch campaign reviewed supermarket cafés and it was an appalling show. Asda, Morrison’s and Tesco cafés all came in the bottom five. They scored badly on healthy choices and provided hardly any veg. Asda didn’t provide any fresh fruit and in Morrison’s our secret diners told us the fruit was “past its best and some had mouldy bits”!
Just providing any old food is shameful. Children and families should be offered high quality, fresh, nutritious and sustainable food options.
We provided the supermarket cafés some recommendations on what we’d like to see including:
In addition to these recommendations, we also recommend supermarkets serve less ultra-processed food.
Supermarkets need to take responsibility for their contribution to the health of our young people. For many children this meal will be their main or only meal of the day and if these meals are being recommended by government, it’s not unreasonable to demand that they at least meet the government recommended nutritional standards.
If local HAF programmes are able to meet standards then why can’t the supermarket giants?
Food provision for children in need over the holidays
The issue of providing free school meals outside of term times was brought to national attention by England footballer Marcus Rashford during the pandemic last year, who called for school meals to be extended to all areas in England and to all children who get free school meals.
Local authorities currently offer Holiday Activity and Food (HAF) programmes to children on free school meals. Find out if you’re eligible here.
You can also find more help and support near you on the #Endchildfoodpoverty website.
With the cost of living crisis worsening, having access to good food is so important. We’re urging the government to review current free school food policy and make changes to support the health and wellbeing of all children all year round.
Laura Chan, Policy Officer at Soil Association
[1] Food provision is required to meet school food standards and research shows that children’s nutritional intake at HAF programmes adhered more closely to the school food standards and Eatwell dietary recommendations (https://researchportal.northumbria.ac.uk/en/publications/the-diet-of-children-attending-a-holiday-programme-in-the-uk-adhe)
This year's Out to Lunch campaign is returning to visitor attractions to see how healthy their meals are. Look out for more later in the year!
Want to ensure children have access to healthy food? Learn more about Food for Life.
Why is the ‘whole school approach to healthy food crucial in the aftermath of the National Food Strategy? Read more from one Gold Food for Life awarded school Headteacher.