1. How to win the picky eater dinner time battle

Professor Greta Defeyter, Director of the Healthy Living Lab at Northumbria University, has been awarded an OBE in recognition of services to education.

Professor Defeyter has spent the last 20 years researching how meals and enriching activities can be, and are being, provided to millions of children across the UK through schools and community organisations.

Her work has significantly influenced the Department for Education’s rollout of a National School Breakfast programme and funding of the Holiday Activities and Food programme for children and young people across England.

She established the Healthy Living Lab in 2006 to investigate the impacts of school breakfast clubs on children’s health, social and educational wellbeing. Working with Kellogg’s, the Greggs Foundation and Blackpool Council between 2008 and 2019, her research demonstrated that breakfast clubs can improve school attendance and punctuality, motivation, social relationships, educational attainment and quality of life for many children.

This evidence has supported the nationwide expansion of breakfast clubs over the past fifteen years. In September the Chancellor announced a £315 million free breakfast club programme that would provide free school breakfast clubs in all state-funded primary schools next year.

Recognising that school holidays brought difficulties for many families, Professor Defeyter expanded her research. Her evaluations of holiday clubs and city-wide holiday programmes evidenced the need for the UK government to alleviate holiday hunger and ensure that children and young people were offered nutritious food and engaging activities outside of term time as well as during the academic year.

As a result, in 2021 the government announced that up to £220 million was being made available to local authorities across England to fund the Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme.

HAF and the new HAF Plus programme, which has been co-designed to make it more engaging for older children, provide activities and healthy food to nearly one million children and young people during the school holidays each year. The HAF Plus framework has also been adopted by supporting organisations, such as Kitchen Social, funded by the Mayor’s Fund for London, and has been implemented across all London boroughs.

More recently, Professor Defeyter has been researching broader issues around poverty, school meals, and the Healthy Start Scheme. Through her work with national charities, schools, supermarkets, and caterers, she is currently advising the UK and Scottish Governments on developing national strategies and policies to eliminate the need for food banks. This includes the introduction of Affordable Food Clubs and Cash First Plus programmes; both designed to maximise household income and improve dietary intake and overall wellbeing.

The Order of the British Empire (OBE) is awarded to those who have made a significant impact in the arts, sciences, charitable work and public service.

Professor Defeyter said: “I am both delighted and astonished at being awarded an OBE. To be recognised in this manner for my research with children, young people and families is a humbling experience.

“Most importantly, I would like to thank all the organisations, local authorities, charities, children, young people, parents and carers who trusted me, and worked alongside me to conduct this research that has enabled societal change.

“Finally, I wish to thank all my research colleagues within the Healthy Living Lab for all of their support in conducting the research that has made a difference to millions of children and young people. I thank you all!”

Professor Andy Long, Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive of Northumbria University, said: “We are delighted to see this recognition for Greta and her work. It is clear that her research over the last two decades has informed and influenced government decision making which has led to a positive, and meaningful, impact on the lives of children and families across the country.”

Professor Defeyter has already received several accolades for her work. In 2006 she was named as a Children’s Food Hero by Sustain, following notable award winners, Jamie Oliver and Ed Balls. In 2015, she was made a Fellow of the British Psychological Society in recognition of her research with children living in areas of social and economic deprivation, and in 2020 she was named as one of the country’s top 100 change makers by the Big Issue for her research and policy impact on childhood food poverty in the UK.

She has a number of executive roles and fellowships with organisations. These include being an executive member of the North East Child Poverty Commission, a Fellow and incoming President of the Health and Food Council at the Royal Society of Medicine, and Chair of Feeding Britain’s Academic Advisory Board.

Professor Defeyter will formally receive her OBE at a ceremony later in the year.

FareShare takes donations of surplus food from across the food industry and redistributes it throughout its network to 8,000 charitable organisations nationwide.

In just 12 months of working together, the partnership has already impacted almost 1000 charities across the UK and supported FareShare’s mission of ensuring no good food goes to waste. This includes a large number of charitable organisations that are working with people experiencing homelessness, working with children and young people, supporting asylum seekers and older people’s community groups.

As well as this, the donations from apetito have helped to drive down some of the environmental impacts associated with food waste, saving an estimated 48 tonnes CO2e.

Lee Sheppard, Director of Corporate Affairs, Policy and Sustainability at apetito spoke on the importance of this partnership to the business:

“We feel passionately about addressing the challenge of food waste and are committed to ensuring our surplus ingredients and meals support organisations doing incredible work for those who really need it.

“We are proud to have established this partnership with FareShare and to be making a real difference to communities and charities across the country.”

Simon Millard, Director of Food at FareShare said: “We are really pleased to see how this partnership has built in the last 12 months and are grateful for all the food donations from apetito that have been distributed through the FareShare network.

“It’s important to us to work with partners that share the same values: ensuring edible food goes to people to eat, instead of going to waste. These charities we provide surplus food turn this into meals, providing a gateway to vital support services, strengthening communities across the UK.”

The three-part, curriculum-linked video series teaches pupils engaging lessons on food preparation, digestion, and how to improve gut health by eating high fibre foods such as fruits, vegetables, and wholegrains. It comes at a time when it has never been more important for schools to educate pupils about food, nutrition, and cooking, against a backdrop of rising food insecurity, increasing childhood obesity levels and a growing number of children managing allergens.

The Spotlight Session videos see Katy Ashworth, in collaboration with Chartwells’ Senior Nutritionist Marnie George, make gut health education fun and accessible for children. Each video is supported by lesson plans, practical activities, worksheets, and quizzes, which teachers can download and use for free in the classroom.

Katy Ashworth comments: “Early education on health and nutrition is essential for setting children up with positive outlooks on food. This new Spotlight Session, developed in partnership with Chartwells, delivers fun, accessible lessons on how to take care of your gut.

“Pupils will go on an engaging journey through the digestive system throughout a series of three videos, with supporting lesson plans, experiments and quizzes – providing hours of fun learning for children, packaged up in a way that’s easy for teachers to deliver. The sessions will inspire a real love of healthy food and ignite pupils’ passions for protecting their physical and mental health.”

Marnie George, Senior Nutritionist at Chartwells, adds: “We’re on a mission to ensure young people are educated and feel empowered to make the right decisions when it comes to food choices, nutrition, and sustainability. We know that when it comes to the topic of health there is a lot of misinformation out there and it can be difficult for children to understand what is good for them and what isn’t.

“Through this video series, not only do we want to provide a comprehensive, cost-effective digital resource for schools, but we also want to make a complex topic fun, engaging, and easy to understand for children, helping to encourage a lifelong positive relationship with food.”

Launched at the Schools & Academies Show in Birmingham, the gut health series starring Katy Ashworth is the second of Chartwells’ Spotlight Sessions. The premiere series, released in February 2024 and presented by Allegra McEvedy in partnership with the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, explored the role bumblebees play in our food system.

Spotlight Sessions are an extension of Beyond the Chartwells Kitchen, a free, collaborative service for Chartwells’ partner schools. Working together with pupils, parents, and teachers, Chartwells delivers in-school workshops to teach children of all ages essential lessons on food, nutrition, wellbeing, and sustainability – including practical lessons on cooking.

Looking ahead, Chartwells is committed to supporting and collaborating with schools across the UK to create engaging tools and digital content that will help educate pupils, and will continue to roll out new Spotlight Sessions in the new year.

The Spotlight Session videos, along with lesson plans, practical activities, worksheets and quizzes, can be downloaded for free on Chartwells’ website.

According to UNICEF, nine out of 10 children are worried about climate change, with 89% of children saying they don’t feel enough is being done to tackle the climate crisis, and 81% feeling that they are not being listened to.

Canteen to Classroom seeks to empower children to make climate-friendly dietary choices at both school and home through the provision of high-quality, evidence-based lessons developed specifically for primary schools.

“Children today care deeply about the climate crisis and, in my experience, they want to know how they can make a difference. The food we eat is a super place to start. Educating children on the impact of their food choices is essential in nurturing future generations who are both health and environmentally conscious,” said Martin Skingley, Education Manager at ProVeg UK, and previously a teacher of 16 years.

“Through our School Plates programme, we realised we were making huge positive changes in the canteen, but hadn’t prepared any resources to directly support children in understanding the importance of these changes. Education was the missing piece.

“Plant-based foods have numerous benefits and our programme for children in Foundation Stage right up to Key Stage 2 celebrates these in an engaging and informative way, making it easier for them to make choices and take actions that are good for themselves and good for the planet,” Skingley added.

Evidence-based lessons

The programme is made up of 24 specially-made, evidence-based lesson plans with engaging lesson presentations, and additional resources aimed at saving teachers and education providers precious time and effort.

The lessons adhere to the national curriculum in England and provide a well-rounded view of healthy and sustainable eating. Lessons do not need to be taught sequentially and can be delivered as stand-alone sessions, as a half-term block, or as a way of supporting and enhancing themed weeks or special learning days.

“We know that school timetables are already tight, so we have created ‘ready-to-go’ lessons that can fit in and around what schools already do. And, all of this we provide for free,” Skingley said.

The new initiative complements ProVeg’s hugely successful School Plates programme that has been running since 2018, and currently works with major catering partners across the UK. The non-profit has helped turn tens of millions of school dinners meat-free or plant-based while developing tasty, nutritious, and sustainable menus.

The Department for Education has set a target for all schools in England to have a climate action plan in place by 2025. The programme can work in tandem and help educational settings achieve sustainability goals so that planning becomes action. Involving children, young people and learners is imperative to inspire their enthusiasm to help drive positive change and enable them to share their knowledge in their local communities.

All Canteen to Classroom lesson plans are available to download for free here.

Morrisons has added the British Food Module to its existing tours to show youngsters where fresh food comes from, teaching them how shorter delivery distances benefit the environment and how choosing British supports local farmers and producers.

The Foodmaker & Shopkeeper Tours help bring British food to life in a fun and engaging way for children and inspire the next generation of foodmakers.

Swapping the classroom for Morrisons Market Street, the Foodmaker & Shopkeeper Tours are available to children aged 5 to 9 years old, across schools, Scout groups, children’s local community groups and more. As visiting children tour their local Morrisons store, they are invited to meet Market Street foodmakers, from skilled butchers and bakers to fishmongers, who serve up fresh, quality British food every day to customers. Here they are given practical demonstrations of where local food comes from and how it is made.

Following a Market Street walk-around, the new module will finish with educational British food-themed activities in the store café or community room.

Morrisons is British farming’s biggest customer – supporting, growing and championing more farmers than any other supermarket, working directly with 2,500 farmers and growers all year round.

Joseph Clark-Bland, Community & Foundation Manager at Morrisons, said: “As a fresh food retailer and British farming’s single biggest customer we think it’s really important that children understand where their food comes from.

“Our stores are full to the brim with British food, and our skilled butchers, bakers and fishmongers serve up fresh British food every day on our Market Street, so we’re in a unique position to help educate children in our local communities on the benefits of eating British, and hopefully inspire the next generation of foodmakers!”

Morrisons first launched its Foodmaker & Shopkeeper Tours in 2018 and has since gone on to host thousands of visits in its stores up and down the country.

Grab-and-go meals have become integral to secondary school lunch services, with shorter lunchtimes and changing students’ eating habits. According to UCL data, most secondary school lunchtimes are under 55 minutes, and a quarter are under 35 minutes, meaning it’s a race against the clock to serve hungry students in a limited time. This shift towards a faster meal pace reflects a wider cultural trend towards food-to-go, with the number of UK fast-food restaurants rising recently.

In response to this change, CRB Cunninghams worked with IFG to develop a free guide that includes practical insights into how schools can offer a nutritious grab-and-go meal service. The guide analyses how technology is vital in adapting to pupils’ modern eating habits.

The guide covers:

• Changing trends in accessing school food
• Tried-and-tested nutritious recipes loved by students
• The role of technology in school meal delivery
• How to future-proof your school food service
• Q&A with experts at Impact Food Group

With school food standards evolving and providing nutritious school meals at the forefront of school catering operations, the guide also includes information on planning and implementing nutritious school meals as part of a grab-and-go school meal service, with student-loved recipes from IFG.

Impact Food Group states: “As caterers, we need to offer students fresh, exciting food experiences to compete with what they can get outside the school gates. New food trends, dining styles and digital solutions all have a role to play.”

Download the free Grab-and-Go Recipe Guide here.

The Award is the company’s fourth Royal honour, with apetito having previously won three Queen’s Awards for Enterprise (two for Innovation in 2005 and 2016, and one in 2019 for Sustainable Development). This latest honour recognises apetito’s commitment to conducting business in a way that impacts positively on the environment, society and economy.  

In particular, it celebrates apetito’s outstanding dedication to sustainability, its pledge to reach Net Zero by 2040, and the work the company has taken in delivering actions to meet challenging short-term targets for carbon reduction and supporting climate change – targets which are validated by the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi). 

Central to its King’s Awards for Enterprise 2024 win, was apetito’s work in launching the world’s-first closed loop recycling scheme for plastic meal trays, “Project Boomerang.” 

Under the Boomerang’ initiative, once the meals have been eaten, the used trays are collected from the company’s customers and turned back into new meal trays. The award-winning initiative is far more effective than household kerbside collections. Not only does it “collect” more (apetito collects close to 50% of all trays compared to household recycling which collects just 39%), apetito then guarantees that 100% of clean trays collected will be turned into new ones. This is in stark contrast to UK household recycling rates, where it is estimated that 46% is sent abroad for processing, often with uncertain results, including being sent to landfill.  

To celebrate the occasion, apetito held a celebratory lunch, inviting over 40 of its Long Service Heroes, members of team apetito with more than 20 years’ dedicated service.

During the occasion, the Vice Lord-Lieutenant was full of praise for apetito for achieving yet another Royal honour: “It’s impressive for a business to be recognised four times with the UK’s highest business accolade. apetito is one of just 29 businesses that were recognised in 2024 for their work in Sustainable Development.  The company is an exemplar of a business that leads the way through its actions to reduce its impact on the environment. To present this award today to a Wiltshire-based business has been a privilege.”

The presentation also was attended by the CEO and Chair of apetito UK, Paul Freeston, and many of those involved with the award entry and sustainability projects.

Paul dedicated this award to all members of staff who made it possible: “This award reflects the hard work, commitment and vision of everyone here at apetito | Wiltshire Farm Foods. We are proud to be making a real difference in the area of ethics and sustainability and making significant strides on our journey to Net Zero by 2040.

“The continued success of our sustainability journey is the culmination of all the hard work and passion of everyone who works here.”

The letters have been sent ahead of mayoral elections on 2^nd May to call on all candidates across the UK to support nationwide action to extend free school meals. The 87 signatories include celebrity chefs Tom Kerridge and Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall, as well as NGOs, academics, councillors, doctors and health organisations including the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, the Royal Society of Public Health, the Association of Directors of Public Health and the National Education Union. 

There are 900,000 children living in poverty in England who are missing out on national eligibility for Free School Meals. It is unfair that all primary school children in London receive a free hot meal at lunchtime, with the same being rolled out in Scotland and Wales, while there are so many children across the rest of England who are living in poverty without getting the same level of essential support. Outside of London, only children from households with an income below £7,400 a year (after tax, before benefits) are eligible; a threshold that has not increased since 2018. 

New polling commissioned by The Food Foundation and published today has found that support for FSM is high across areas that will be voting for metro mayors next week:

• In the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) 79% of people support expanding Free School Meals to more children, while 73% support expanding the current scheme to all children
• In Yorkshire 73% of people support expanding Free School Meals to more children, while 67% support expanding the current scheme to all children.
• In Liverpool City Region Combined Authority 80% of people support expanding Free School Meals to more children, while 75% support expanding the current scheme to all children.

Good nutrition in childhood should be non-negotiable; without it, not only do health outcomes worsen, placing extra pressure on the NHS but so do children’s life chances.  1 in 3 children are leaving primary school with an unhealthy weight and 1 in 5 households with children are currently experiencing food insecurity in the UK. FSM can ensure that all school children can benefit from a hot nutritious meal at lunchtime, helping to protect them from food insecurity, to be healthier and happier, able to do better in school and in the long-term, earn more over their lifetime. 

If Free School Meals were extended to all children, for every £1 invested, £1.71 would be generated in core benefits driven by improved health, education and employment outcomes.  

Anna Taylor, Executive Director of The Food Foundation, said, “As the transformative potential of free school meals is being increasingly recognised in London, we are calling for the scheme to be expanded nationwide to bring an end to the postcode lottery. Every child deserves access to healthy, nutritious food regardless of where they live. As we approach the 2024 general election, we urge all national political parties and metro mayors to pledge to do what’s right and ensure that no child in England is left to go hungry at school.” 

Celebrity Chef and Campaigner Tom Kerridge, said, “We need to end the postcode lottery in Free School Meals now. Every child should have a hot meal at lunchtime. Free School Meals provide a vital safety net for families struggling in the current cost of living crisis and policy makers need to commit to making sure every child in the UK can benefit, learn and go on to reach their potential’ 

Celebrity Chef and Campaigner Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall, said, “Introducing free school meals for every primary school child in London has been an amazing policy initiative from Sadiq Kahn, making a real difference to children’s health and learning in the capital. It’s brilliant that he’s committed to making that a permanent policy in his manifesto. And it would be even more brilliant if it was expanded across England, so that all children can receive a nutritious meal at school to help them concentrate, thrive at school, and reach their potential.” 

Paul McDonald, Chief Campaigns Officer at Health Equals: “Our childhood shapes our future health, and poverty is one of the biggest risks to children’s health. Free school meals will help protect children from poverty and provide them with a nutritious meal which will help them grow, learn better at school and have more opportunity to thrive. Providing free school meals is investing in our children’s future to give them every opportunity for a healthy and prosperous life.”

New additions include Hunters Chicken, which has succulent chicken and smoked bacon pieces in a rich barbeque tomato sauce, topped with mozzarella cheese. A gluten-free dish with low salt levels, this classic dish is sure to be a hit with pupils.

apetito’s new Orange & Ginger Chicken is packed full of tender pieces of chicken in a vibrant and aromatic spiced and sweet sauce. The dish is made without gluten, milk, and egg, so it’s a great addition for schools who cater for a wide range of dietary requirements.

And, with more and more pupils opting for a vegetarian or plant-based choice, apetito is introducing more vegan dishes to help schools offer more choice than ever before. New Tempeh, Sweet Potato and Spinach Hotpot is a delicious vegan and gluten free option. The soft pieces of tempeh with spinach, sweet potato and a rich vegetable sauce and topped with crispy sauteed potatoes are a great strong source of plant protein, helping students to get vital nutrients.

apetito is also launching brand new vegan sausages, which offer 18g protein per portion and offer a versatile plant-based alternative suitable for a wide range of meals, from bangers & mash to a roast dinner.

Expanding its range of side dishes, apetito is introducing Wholegrain Rice and Carrot Tips. Both options are vegan and gluten free, helping enable schools to mix up their menus and reduce menu fatigue.

For students with a sweet tooth, apetito’s pastry chefs have developed the perfect light summery dessert for the warmer weather. Its Summer Fruit Sponge is made without dairy and has a delicious layer of apples, blackcurrants and raspberries topped with a light vanilla sponge.

Speaking of the new dishes Rupert Weber, Head of Education at apetito said: “Speaking to schools we know how important it is for them to offer a real variety of high-quality dishes to ensure that uptake of school meals is at a high level and pupils are tucking into nutritious dishes, which give them the fuel they need to focus on lessons.

“We’re delighted to be adding these meals to our range of over 200 dishes. Not only are these new meals nutritious, tasty and delicious, but they are also made with high-quality ingredients and cater to a wide range of dietary requirements – making sure there really is something for every pupil.”

Discover more about apetito’s schools meals service: https://apetito.link/SpringSummer2024