Caterers serve up adverts

Nutrition & Food Science

ISSN: 0034-6659

Article publication date: 1 November 2006

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Citation

(2006), "Caterers serve up adverts", Nutrition & Food Science, Vol. 36 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/nfs.2006.01736fab.010

Publisher

:

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2006, Emerald Group Publishing Limited


Caterers serve up adverts

Caterers serve up adverts

School caterers plan to use a national television campaign to convince parents that Jamie Oliver is not the only cook capable of serving up healthy school meals.

Tired of the criticisms levelled at school meals, since the celebrity chef launched the Channel 4 show of Jamie's School Dinners last year, school caterers intend to “fight fire with fire”.

A spokeswoman for the Local Authority Caterers Association (LACA), Hazel Green, said the TV chef was to blame for the slump in demand for school meals. Ms Green said caterers would use the adverts to prove to parents that their school meals were equally as healthy as Oliver's creations.

Jamie's School Dinners was seen as the driving force behind the government's decision to introduce tough new nutritional standards in the autumn. Since the show was launched, in March last year, school meals have fallen from favour, threatening to put some caterers out of business.

The LACA, which represents the suppliers of 85 per cent of school meals, says that there has been a 12.5 per cent drop in the consumption of dinners since Oliver's show first aired.

Ms Green said: “We are going to fight fire with fire to reverse the situation and change parents' perception that school meals are unhealthy.”

She said Oliver may have correctly identified “a few bad school meals” but most aterers only used “fresh raw ingredients”.

The adverts, which will be aired in September, will focus on the new standards school caterers will be following, which include limiting chips to twice a week and serving at least two portions of fresh fruit and vegetables a day.

Ms Green said: “What we want to do is make parents aware of these standards and the importance of school meals in providing quality nutritional food.”

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