Citation
(2006), "LACA", Nutrition & Food Science, Vol. 36 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/nfs.2006.01736eab.002
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2006, Emerald Group Publishing Limited
LACA
LACA
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.
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.
LACA, which represents the suppliers of 85 per cent of school meals, says there has been a 12.5 per cent drop in the consumption of dinners since Oliver's show first aired.
She said Oliver may have correctly identified “a few bad school meals" but most caterers only used “fresh raw ingredients”.
The adverts, 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.”