TV chef accuses Gove of eroding school meals

Oliver, who spearheaded a nationwide campaign to make school dinners more healthy, called on parents to tell Mr Gove not to touch standards introduced by the previous government.

Following his campaign, strict nutritional guidelines were introduced for primary schools in 2008 and secondary schools in 2009.

But academies, which are semi-independent state schools, are not required to sign up to them. Since last year, the coalition Government has allowed any school to apply for academy status.

Mr Oliver said of his healthy eating campaign: “The bit of work that we did which is law was a good bit of work for any government.

“So to erode it, which is essentially what Mr Gove is doing – his view is we let schools do what they want.

“I think that’s a wonderful ambition, that everyone’s going to be brilliant, but headteachers are more pushed that ever, expected to do more than ever, now they have to be entrepreneurial caterers as well as everything else they have to do.

“The standards are there to really keep everyone on their game. It’s not a large amount of paperwork, it really isn’t, and for what it’s for, which is essentially the future of our country, it’s really important.”

The latest figures show that more than two-fifths of primary school children and a third of secondary school children are opting for school meals, but Britain’s 1,300 academies are free to serve what they like.

He added: “I think parents needs to tell Mr Gove that the standards are there for good reason, and actually not everything that the last government did was wrong. They did a lot of good stuff and he shouldn’t touch them. It could be a disaster.

“I think the Conservatives have been very clever, because if they just came out and said ‘we’re taking away the standards’... what they’ve done is they’re actively, aggressively pushing academies, which is already one-third of all our secondary schools, and they don’t have any requirements at all.”

Healthy food campaigners demanded that academies be brought in line with national food standards.

Christine Haigh, co-ordinator of the Children’s Food Campaign, said: “Today’s expose certainly backs up reports we have been hearing from people on the ground.

“It’s clear that the loophole created by this Government is going to reverse years of hard work to improve food in schools.

“It’s ridiculous that the Government is spending precious public money on a survey of food in academies, when healthy food could be maintained at no extra cost simply by requiring them to meet existing school food standards.”

Schools Trust Chairman Rob Rees said: “We’re always very concerned to hear of any school which either isn’t meeting the national school food standards, or which is choosing not to.

“All the evidence shows that when children eat better, they do better, so this should be a complete and utter no-brainer for any school wanting to do the best for its pupils.

Derick Martin, chief executive of school caterer Innovate Services, insisted that the lack of guidelines did not mean the infamous Turkey Twizzlers would make a comeback in academies.

“Over the last few years, attitudes have changed regarding school catering and we are never going to see a return of Turkey Twizzlers on the menus as a result.

“There are a number of reasons for this – the nutritional guidelines have, of course, made a difference overall, but also we believe that attitudes have significantly changed amongst not only school staff and operators, but with students themselves who are for more health-conscious today.”

During his Jamie’s School Dinners television series, which led to the changes, the chef was appalled to see parents supplying pupils at Rawmarsh Comprehensive school near Rotherham with takeaway meals “over the wall” after a healthier menu was introduced and children were banned from visiting local takeaways.

A follow-up series, which saw him attempt to persuade the public to give up ready meals, started in Rotherham, where a Ministry of Food was set up.