A mum from Devon has slammed her son’s school for implementing strict guidelines for packed lunches as the result of coronavirus.
Jennifer Louise Ireton claims the rules issued by the school, just before her eldest son Robin started in reception class, are costing her an extra £25 a week.
Speaking to the Daily Mirror newspaper, the 30-year-old said: “It seems unnecessary to tell parents exactly what they should be putting in their lunch boxes – we all try and feed our kids healthy stuff. It’s very dictated.
“I would normally just feed them a sandwich, packet of crisps, veggie sticks and then a chocolate bar as a treat at home.
“It’s a lot of pressure; it gives me a lot of anxiety knowing they will take food off the kids if it doesn’t fit the requirements.”
Chocolate bars and biscuits, sweets, meat products such as sausage rolls and corned meat and fizzy drinks have all been banned from lunchboxes.
Instead, the school have advised parents to include meat, fish, cheese or other source of protein every day, oily fish, such as salmon, smoked mackerel or tuna at least once every three weeks and homemade cakes, nuts, seeds, vegetables and fruit are all fine to have.
Jennifer added: “Robin has a nut allergy but there are no restrictions on nuts which is unusual and worrying.
“If I had the time, I would bake cakes and sausage rolls but I have an 18-month-old toddler that I need to look after, as well as other household chores.”
Britain has one of the highest child obesity rates in Western Europe. According to figures for England, a fifth of 10- to 11-year-olds are obese.
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The government has been trying to tackle the soaring rates by laying out different stages to its obesity plan.
In July 2020 – amid growing evidence of a link between obesity and an increased risk from coronavirus – the prime minister stated there would be a ban on unhealthy “buy one, get one free” deals, junk food adverts would be restricted and calorie labelling on restaurant menus would be introduced.
