Letters

‘Hot school meals – a close look’

Industrial food?

Letters to the Editor. Illustration: Paul Scott

The Irish Times - Letters to the Editor.

Thu May 2 2024 - 00:05

A chara, – I was very taken aback to read the article regarding the new hot school meals scheme being rolled out across primary schools (Ruth Hegarty, “Hot school meals: A close look at the ingredients list is not pretty. This is industrial food”, Opinion & Analysis, April 30th).

Having worked in the education sector for several decades and visited many different schools and classrooms from rural Monaghan to Wexford, Waterford and beyond, schools in the inner city and areas of West Dublin such as Neilstown, Darndale and parts of Tallaght, I saw first hand the need for meals to be made available to children in school.

In Deis schools (those designated as disadvantaged) a lunch of a sandwich, a piece of fruit and a carton of milk would be given to each child.

At the end of the day I would often see a teacher put leftover sandwiches into the bags of particular children with a quiet aside, “That will be the last thing they’ll get to eat before they come into school tomorrow.”

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With an allocation of €3.20 per child there will be no fine dining or organic menus but the hot meal that many children now get as a result of this scheme will be a significant boost to them, not least in the development of social skills, with children enjoying a meal together, sitting at a table.

An independent evaluation of the programme found it had a very positive impact on children’s attendance at school, physical health and psychological well being.

“It is not pretty”, the writer opines in relation to the list of ingredients, “it is industrial food” and “they will bring home soiled cardboard boxes”.

Surely they brought home soiled plastic boxes previously?

On second thoughts, maybe they should just eat cake? – Is mise,

MARY MacDONALD,

Gorey,

Co Wexford.

Sir, – As Ruth Hegarty highlights, an initiative which has the potential to be really positive, will have a very negative environmental impact – both due to the waste created, and importation of food products from distant countries – and will be of limited nutritional value to the children it serves.

It is incredible to think that the Government and State agencies still do not robustly proof their policies and programmes from environmental and health perspectives.

Isn’t it time that we moved away from “quick wins” and going for the cheapest option, and instead design such initiatives with adequate investment and due consideration, in order to ensure minimal environmental impact and maximum health and social benefit? – Yours, etc,

VALERIE McFARLANE,

Mullingar,

Co Westmeath.

Sir, – Ruth Hegarty hit the nail on the head with her critic of the free hot meal school scheme both regarding the meal ingredients and the single-use packaging, as well as the cutlery.

Who signed off on a State scheme, estimated to cost €300 million per annum, which so blatantly adds to our waste mountain, and breaches the Government’s own green procurement and healthy eating policies? Whoever it was had better work on rectifying it fast as it is doing harm every single day it is running.

Could we have a national competition for good low-carbon footprint (Irish where possible) healthy food in schools, and a way of serving it which minimises waste and packaging, to benefit the student’s learning, the planet and those providers who are doing it well?

By the time schools reopen this autumn, we need a radically different approach. – Yours, etc,

KARIN DUBSKY,

Director,

Coastwatch,

Dublin 2.

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