With the growing awareness of the relationship between diet and health, the Government appears to be committed to supporting healthier food and lifestyle choices.
Discuss the significance of any such commitment to the hospitality industry and critically evaluate the extent to which responses by this industry will assist the Government reduce the incidence of diet related diseases.
Healthy eating has been the subject of much debate over the last three years and health professionals agree that the relationship between diet and health is an important one (Mintel 2005b). According to The British Nutrition Foundation (BNF) (2004) eating habits can help or hurt a person’s overall health, and today more consumers have started to realise this and thus are concerned about what they eat and where their food comes from. Government appears to be committed to supporting healthier food and lifestyle choices, and responses by the industry to some extent are assisting the Government in reducing diet related diseases (BNF, 2004), as the essay shall discuss.
The essay will start by outlining the growing awareness of diet and health concerns such as obesity, heart disease and diabetes. The essay will go on to discuss the extent to which Government appears to be concerned about the relationship between diet and health. A significant area of concern in regard to diet and health are school meals which are eaten by more than 4 million kids in England and Wales every day, providing them with a third of their daily calories (Food In Schools, 2005). The importance of school meals is clearly evident and as a result, the essay main focus will be school meals. The essay will discuss the extent to which Government has a role to play, how the industry is responding, the issues that exists and how effective a particular campaign has been in improving the standard of school meals. To conclude the essay will summarise how committed Government is in supporting healthier lifestyles and how this could assist in reducing diet related diseases.
There is no true definition of the term health/y, but most people who work in the industry agree that healthy foods are foods that provide optimum nutrition or enhance the health of those who consume them (Proudlove, 2001). Healthy foods are also foods without significant amounts of substances known to be harmful to health. Race (1991) points out that there is considerable evidence that there are links between diet and major killers such as heart disease, cancers and strokes, and Nutrition.gov (2005) support this by researching that a healthy diet can lower risks of diseases, for example high blood pressure and diabetes.
Atkins and Bowler (2001) note that certain foods have come under scrutiny in the last forty years and millions of people have altered their diets as a consequence of medical comment and Government advice. In the UK, about 66 per cent of adults are now overweight or obese. In ten years, obesity levels among children have doubled in six year olds, and trebled among fifteen year olds (Food Standards Agency (FSA) (2006), thus presenting major concerns for Government. Mintel (2006) signifies that the financial burden on the National Health Service will increase dramatically in this century as people live longer, and the current obesity trend could increase this burden if it goes unchecked. The Department of Health (DoH) and The Treasury share interest in improving public health due to spiralling costs, Government estimates the economic costs of overweight and obesity in England are about £7.4 billion per year (BNF, 2005). To further highlight the concerns of obesity, The International Obesity Taskforce (IOTF) (2006) highlight that England and Wales have some of the highest levels of obesity in Europe, causing 30,000 deaths in England per year. Thus it can be seen that health issues are being directly linked to the food that consumers are eating.
The average daily intake in the UK is 2313 kilo calories for men and 1632 kilo calories for women (BNF, 2005), however these amount are frequently exceeded, and therefore in the long term this can cause diet related problems for the individual (Tull, 1999). FSA (2006) advise that as part of a balanced diet, more fruit and vegetables, more fish, less saturated fat, less sugar and less salt need to be consumed in the diet. To further highlight the impact diet can have on health, The World Health Organisations (WHO) (2006) notes that that 10 million global cancer cases could be avoided by appropriate diets. Therefore from this, the important role diet plays in maintaining good health is evident and thus as a result healthy eating needs to be taken seriously (DoH, 2005).
The school meals sector is at the forefront of debates when it comes to health (Morgan and Sonnino, 2004). In 1991, compulsory competitive tendering was introduced under the 1988 Local Education Act. Local authorities were obliged to put school-meal contracts out to tender, however there was no nutritional standard that needed to be met. During this time privatised local authority services competed with private catering companies to provide the best value, and therefore cheap convenience foods started replacing wholesome meals (Lawrence and Pidd, 2005). School meals that had been a ‘health and welfare’ service introduced in 1944 were reduced to a money-making exercise, dishing up foods full of fats, sugars, processed starches and chemical additives. This is exactly the problem up until today, thus the ‘school meal’s debate is continuing to rage (Brough, 2005).
The Government introduced new statutory nutritional standards for school lunches in 2001, which shows it did pay some interest to school meals, although it did not appear to be fully concerned (Food in Schools, 2005). There is considerable media interest driving the agenda of the school meals issue and the tipping point for this was the television series, ‘Jamie’s School Dinners’ in 2005, through which the poor quality of the food served in UK’s schools was bought to the public attention (Walker, 2005). This created a huge impact and since then Government has more attention to improving the nutritional value of school meals in England, by extending new standards to cover food across the school day, including breakfast, tuck shops and vending machines (BNF, 2004).
Oliver noted that the food consumed by children, was leading to a health time bomb, with soaring rates of obesity and hugely increased risks of heart disease and other life threatening conditions (Mintel, 2005a), thus the reason as to why the celebrity chef felt he needed to get involved in persuading Government to take action on the issue. Jamie Oliver started by taking over school meals in Greenwich and trying to persuade Government to improve standards. With dinner lady, Nora Sands, he showed that kids could be fed fresh, nutritious meals. After a huge campaign and newspaper headlines, Tony Blair agreed to set new standards for school meals (School Food Trust, 2006). From this it is clear, that Government is aware of the problems surrounding school meals and the burden that obesity in children will and is causing the welfare state (Choosing Health, 2005).
Lawrence and Pidd (2005) signfy that schools on average spend 37p on ingredients per child, Oliver (2005:4) argues this is clearly not enough and says:
“…more money is needed to put better food on the plate… instead of 37p, it should be 50p… half a quid per kid”
The Government White Paper, Choosing Health (2005) reports that Government is committed to ensuring that measures to protect children’s health are implemented, however it can be questioned as to whether Government is really concerned and if it truly believes 37p is enough to feed a school child lunch for one day. On one hand, Government appears worried about the health of children and on the other it is only contributing marginal amounts towards improving school meals (Walker, 2005).
270,000 people signed Oliver’s petition to replace the Turkey Twizzler and chips, with salad, fruit and better quality meat in schools (Walker, 2005).Oliver (2005:3) believes that the diet of school children in unacceptable and says:
“We are feeding our kids too much pre-prepared processed food…..the fatter kids are the more prone to obesity they are in adult life…”
Government did show interest and as a result agreed to invest £280 million to tackle the problem, in the way of, training staff/increased hours for cooks, new equipment and a minimum spend on ingredients. In 2005, Government invested a further £220 million towards improving school meals (Food in Schools, 2005), which signifies that the Government was keen to assist to a certain degree in resolving the issue. Walker (2005) however argues that these figure compared to the cost of the NHS are extremely low, and therefore it can be questioned as to whether the Government is doing enough to combat the problem. The Soil Association (2003) believe that with a little extra investment, changes could be made that would transform what children eat and learn about food in school.
The Government did however respond in other ways, for example the DoH launched the Food in Schools Programme, implementing a ‘whole school approach’ to healthy eating. As a result there are now recommended new minimum standards for school meals so that pupils receive essential nutrients, two portions of fruit and vegetables per day, oily fish on a regular basis and easy access to drinking water. Every school will be expected to meet these standards by 2008 (DoH, 2005). Thus in this instance, Government support towards the improvement of school meals can be seen to some degree and it appears as though Governments needs to promote more campaigns which support ‘a whole school approach’ type programme to get children more involved (Harvey, 2000).
As for the catering companies providing the food, Murcott (1998) argues that these are solely interested in making a profit. Lawrence and Pidd (2005) point out that although the value of the school meals industry is £1.1 billion annually, catering contractors are complaining they are not making any profit out of school meals any more, which also emphasises the fact they are more interested in making money and not about the content of their food and how it may be affecting children’s health.
The Government intends to discuss with the food companies how they might contribute to funding national campaigns to promote health information and education. Although the Government say it will be working with industry to develop voluntary action on long term targets for reducing sugar and fat levels in foods, Mintel (2003) notes that Governments and their decisions frequently change and therefore issues at times can be pro-longed, in which case usually the problem are put to one side or forgotten about. Walker (2005) points out that Oliver must understand that the fight for better school meals is an ongoing one and there is a long fight ahead before Britain’s children can enjoy what Oliver would call ‘pukka nosh’ every lunchtime.
BNF (2004) bring to the attention that 92% of kids consume more saturated fat, 83% more sugar and 50% more salt than the maximum amount recommended, and Government know this will have heavy consequences for the National Health Service. As a result, The FSA has produced nutrient specifications which set maximum levels for total fat, saturated fat, salt and sugar for a range of manufactured food used in school meals, including bread, pizza, sausages and burgers (DoH, 2005). Thus from this it can be said that Government is showing some interest in the school meals issue.
Walker (2005) highlights that there is a ‘backlash’ against Jamie’s efforts. Research shows that 83% of schools have met nutritional standards that have been put into place by Government, however most children still opt for higher fat choices and only 6% choose vegetables or salad. The children seem to prefer the ‘junk’ food as compared to the ‘healthier’ choice, however Oliver (2005) believes this is due to the reason that school kids are not equipped to make sensible decisions about a balanced diet. Oliver argues that Government needs to put cookery back on to the school curriculum (Harvey, 2000), and in this way Oliver looks to be almost blaming Government for not doing enough to for the campaign.
Not only does a problem exist in encouraging the children to eat the healthier food, but the school staff (dinner ladies) are finding it difficult adapt to new cooking styles, complaining that there are too many ingredients to deal with, saying it takes too much time and effort and the extra hours are not paid for (Caroline Walker Trust, 2004). Oliver has argued that the dinner lady profession should be made into a career vocation and that they should be paid more than the average weekly wage of £82. However his efforts to tackle Government on this matter have also proved very minimal (Food in Schools, 2005). As a result dinner ladies have become de-motivated, which is a barrier in allowing the school meals campaign to fully succeed.
Another problem arising out of the school meals campaign is that of a rise in black market junk food. Children are now smuggling in fizzy drinks, sweets, and crisps and then selling them for a profit (BBC, 2006). There have also been cases of parents getting involved and giving children food through school gates. Parents at Rawmarsh Comprehensive are taking orders for the local chip shop and delivering food. While some parents are protesting, others are backing the campaign, thus showing two views (Wainwright, 2006). Therefore it can be said that even if the campaign was fully supported by Government, some individuals, e.g. parents would disagree with it, thus presenting problems from this angle (CWT, 2004).
The essay has shown that the issue surrounding school meals is proving to be a real challenge for everyone involved in the food chain, including regulators/Government, caterers, procurement managers and even parents. Although it appears as though the Government is supporting the school meals’ campaign, it does not look to be as actively engaged as it needs to be. There is evidence to suggest that programmes such as ‘the whole school approach’ do to some extent further promote healthy school meals to children, however Government does not look to be fully committed and thus is unable to change the school meal standard fully. It can be summarised, that although Government is being shown to do ‘their bit’ for improving the standard of the school meals, it is not fully committed to supporting the campaign and must assist the hospitality industry more firmly if it wishes to reduce the incidence of diet related diseases.