INTERVENTION is a serious business, usually deployed in an emergency rather than at mealtimes.
But the School Lunchbox Intervention Project is serious about making packed lunches healthier. The Food Standards agency is considering funding the Barnardo’s initiative, reports Third Sector (Jan 18), which will evaluate the nutritional contents of packed lunches before and after Barnardo’s staff give parents advice on healthy eating, “pester power” and food refusals.
A pilot at up to 20 schools will be aimed at parents of nine and ten-year-olds, with low income areas and ethnic minority groups targeted.
‘“Kids are four times more likely to have crisps in their lunchbox than a piece of fruit,” says Anna Ludvigsen, a researcher at Barnardo’s. She says that although public education has helped to improve the quality of school dinners, it is much harder to raise the standard of packed lunches.
And the project could be just in time, according to a report by the Mental Health Foundation and the food charity Sustain. They say that the consumption of processed foods is a key factor in the rise of children’s mental health problems, reports Children Now (Jan 18). Researchers recommend that mental health staff work with nutritionists.