A fried Mars bar anyone?
Scotland’s parliament has given the OK to its Schools (Health and Promotion and Nutrition) Act 2007, which will come into effect in 2008.
If reforming school meals and removing fizzy drinks and sweets has the sort of impact it has had in England, then caterers can expect to struggle as far fewer students eat school meals or spend money on food at school.
This is not just a British phenomenon, with schools in Australia reporting huge losses on their canteens (known as tuck shops), something many relied on to help fund extra curricula activities as well to help offset the costs of materials used in subjects like art and drama. There are even reports of students selling soft drinks from their lockers, in much the same way that speakeasies sold alcohol during prohibition.
What’s odd about the Scottish approach is that it requires only one portion of oily fish every three weeks, but allows three servings of deep fried food each week.
When Scottish students study Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens, they can modify the famous line where Oliver asks for more gruel saying, ‘Please sir, I want some more’. One of their possible amended replies could be, ‘More what? More fried Mars bars, please sir!’