21.03.05 - Jamie Oliver "Pleased" At School Dinners Plan - back
Jamie Oliver 'Pleased' at Blair's Better School Dinners Plan
By Rachel Williams
PA News (UK): 20 March 2005
Jamie Oliver and his supporters were tonight waiting to hear more details of Tony Blair’s plans for school dinners, after the Prime Minister backed the celebrity chef’s bid to give junk food the boot.
Health campaigners also gave a qualified welcome to the news that the Government is to spend tens of millions of pounds rebuilding and re-equipping school kitchens to cook meals on site, and give extra training to dinner ladies to help them create appetising, healthy menus.
Writing in The Observer, Mr Blair promised to set up an independent School Food Trust to build on the work done by Mr Oliver in his Channel 4 series, Jamie’s School Dinners.
The moves will form part of a mini “children’s manifesto” to be published tomorrow outlining Labour’s pitch to parents on issues from diet to paedophiles targeting children through the internet.
The Obesity Awareness & Solutions Trust (TOAST) said Mr Blair’s pledge was a good start but it would be waiting to see the results in action.
Director Louise Diss said: “What we need now is for it to be backed up with children having good education not only about nutrition but about their bodies too.”
Mr Oliver told newspaper he “really pleased” the Government was taking his campaign seriously but would scrutinise the detail.
A spokesman for the chef said he now was waiting to see more specific details before speaking further.
The Soil Association, which regulates organic food and farming, said it welcomed Mr Blair’s comments and now wanted to see action from Education Secretary Ruth Kelly.
Policy director Peter Melchett said: “First she must come up with the money to pay for decent school food. She must also change her department’s standards to make sure every child gets the full range of nutrients and vitamins school dinners should provide.
“Up to now, she was not planning to do anything about primary school meals until the end of 2006, but hopefully she will listen to Mr Blair, health experts and parents, and act now.”
In his article, Mr Blair wrote that the new Trust will “draw on the remarkable work of Jamie Oliver in schools, of the Soil Association in encouraging the use of organic and local produce in school meals, and on the best advice on nutrition and eliminating processed foods.”
He added: “It may take a little time to change children’s tastes, but it will be worth the effort if we can get them enjoying healthy and good quality food at school. We will also ask Ofsted to inspect the quality of school meals.”
Mr Oliver told the newspaper: “If changes are made it will only be a matter of months before British health, education and farming could be affected for the better. It could be one of the biggest food revolutions that England has ever seen.”
