The Government needs to change the archaic lunch menu legislation and more schools should embrace meat-free - Lucy Ferguson

Government rules require schools in England to serve meat at least three times a week, dairy every day, and fish once every three weeks. Already outdated, these mandates contradict the NHS Eatwell Guide, which recommends reducing red and processed meat consumption to avoid preventable diseases.

Vegetable, fruit and fibre consumption by children is at an all-time low. Only a quarter of secondary school kids eat five or more portions of fruit or veg a day. Obesity rates of primary children have never been higher. Yet schools are required to serve meat and dairy loaded with saturated fat, and many serve cancer-causing bacon, sausages and ham.

As important as the health legacy we leave our kids is the state of the planet they’ll inherit, and animal agriculture has a devastating impact. More than half of climate emissions from UK school meals are attributed to meat. Oxford University scientists found that a vegan diet carries just 25 per cent of the climate emissions of one high in meat.

All animal-derived foods, including meat and cheese labelled “local” or “free range” have higher carbon footprints than their vegan equivalents. Raising animals for food is responsible for up to 20 per cent of all greenhouse gases worldwide. Vegan diets use far fewer resources, cutting wildlife destruction by 66 per cent and water use by 54 per cent.

Of course, we don’t only want to raise book-smart kids but empathetic and just ones, too. Kids naturally love animals, but our use of euphemisms like ‘nuggets’ and ‘bacon’ (to hide that we’re feeding them body parts) desensitises children to the cruelty and violence of the UK animal agriculture industry. Critical thinking is imperative to education, and when we take the time to question the commodification of other animals, we realise it’s weird, violent, and damaging to our planet.

Every animal is someone - a feeling individual with a distinct personality. Chickens dream during REM sleep like us, lambs wag their tails in joy like dogs and cows shed tears when they lose a loved one, but in the UK each year, over one billion of them are loaded into crates and lorries and trucked to slaughterhouses in terror, where their throats are slit.

Schools should be able to decide what is on the menu as long as pupils' nutritional needs are met. Providing more locally-grown vegetables, fruits, cereals and plant proteins is an opportunity for councils to support Britain’s struggling horticulture and arable farmers. Freedom of choice for children is restricted by the current meat mandate, which is detrimental to the planet, public health and perpetuates animal suffering.

PETA’s petition urging the government to change the archaic lunch menu legislation has been signed by Royal Society for Public Health, Greenpeace UK, Sir Paul McCartney, MPs, Councillors, and school caterers. Councillors moaning for more meat should eat some beans - rich in folate, iron, magnesium, omega-3 and antioxidants; they’re brain food.

Lucy Ferguson is a Yorkshire local and digital campaigns officer for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).