School meals are to receive a radical makeover in an attempt to cut levels of salt, sugar and saturated fat and stem rising obesity in children.
The government will today ditch discredited nutritional standards for school meals in what healthy food campaigners welcomed as a significant U-turn.
The education secretary, Charles Clarke, will make the announcement as part of the national Healthy Living Blueprint in which schools will be encouraged to work more closely with parents in helping youngsters to eat sensibly and adopt healthier lifestyles.
The blueprint, published at the start of National Organic Week, will acknowledge that school lunches provide a significant proportion of children's daily food and nutrient intake - more than 30% on average - and can encourage pupils to eat more fruit and vegetables and less fat. Critically, ministers have agreed to look again at the nutritional standards for school meals they introduced in 2001, to cut levels of salt, sugar and saturated fat.
In consultation with the catering and food industry, food interest groups, local authorities, and learning from best practice in schools, the government will look at ways of tightening up standards to further reduce salt, sugar and saturated fats in children's diets.
The move is designed to halt the year-on-year rise in obesity among children under 11 by the end of the decade, a tough target recently announced by the Department for Education and Skills and the Department of Health as part of a broader strategy to tackle obesity in the population as a whole.
The DoH has been closely involved in developing the blueprint, along with the departments of sport and the environment, food and rural affairs and the Food Standards Agency.
The blueprint will encourage a "whole-school" approach to improving children's health, providing healthy options in meals, but also increasing physical activity and working across the curriculum to teach pupils about how to lead healthy lives. All schools will be urged to do more to teach youngsters how to eat a balanced diet and to encourage an interest in healthy food through gardening clubs or visits to local allotments.
Today's blueprint admits that much more needs to be done to improve the quality of school food and it commits the government to providing additional funding to facilitate progress. The rules will apply to England and Wales. In Scotland the devolved government has already implemented quantified nutritional standards and agreed to spend an extra £63.5m over three years on school meal reform.
Mr Clarke said yesterday: "Good health and effective learning go hand in hand; a healthy body leads to a healthy mind. The partnership of parents and school is critical in shaping good health in children, and schools are well-placed to lead by example."
The Soil Association has welcomed the blueprint as a vital first step in improving the quality of school meals. The organisation first raised concerns about this issue last year in a highly critical report. It is still seeking guarantees that priority will be given to the youngest children at nursery schools and in primary school.
Peter Melchett, the Soil Association's policy director, said: "The government has a long way to go, but we warmly welcome this first, tentative step in the right direction. The promise of extra money is welcome, but it is crucial that the government commits funds to improve the quality of the food given to children in school."