Do your children avail of the hot school meals scheme or will their school be added in this year’s expansion? What is your experience of it?
Is it a move towards stamping out food poverty or does it mean children get used to eating ultra-processed foods? Are you happy with the food offered in your child’s school?
There was strong engagement on an interview on the topic with UCC food policy lecturer Ruth Hegarty this week.
She says much of the food being delivered through the scheme is loaded with ultra-processed foods (UPFs), now known to cause a range of serious and life-threatening diseases.
Have your say: Are hot school meals too ultra-processed or a nutritious boost for children?
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“One of the meals I looked at was chicken curry and rice. There were around 75 ingredients. These include processing aids and additives like sodium citrate, dextrose, xylitol, maltodextrin and modified starch,” she says.
“What’s really terrifying is that we are now institutionalising consumption of ultra-processed foods. With the roll-out of this scheme to every primary school.
“There is a nutrition standard for hot school meals provided by the Government, but there is no oversight of this. Tendering is left to the free market, and schools are expected to ensure the standard is met,” she says.
Are you concerned that the scheme could see children eating more ultra-processed foods? Or are you delighted to see them getting a nutritious hot school meal? Do you have concerns about the implementation of the scheme? Or do you think parents should be grateful to get it? Or are you a teacher, what is the impact in school? ·We’d like to hear what you think.
In Budget 2025 the Government announced there would be an extension of the free hot school meals programme to include all 3,000-plus primary schools from this year, up from the current 2,200 that are eligible for the scheme.
The aim of the scheme is to “provide regular, nutritious food to children to support them in taking full advantage of the education provided to them”, according to the Minister for Social Protection.
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