"It is my understanding this is not an uncommon lunch for some kids."

"It's safe to say it's not a particularly healthy lunch. You would be talking about 10 grams of salt here alone. You are eating something that is heavy in fat and heavy in saturated fat."

"Parent anger over lunchbox police Article from: MICHAEL OWEN, POLITICAL REPORTER
September 11, 2008 12:30am
RULES on junk food in schools will be sent to all principals this week amid parent anger over teachers inspecting children's lunchboxes and confiscating items viewed as unhealthy.

Education Department chief executive Chris Robinson told The Advertiser last night guidelines would be reissued to all state schools and preschools.
This follows reports yesterday of several schools ordering teachers to search children's lunchboxes for "inappropriate" food.

In some cases, confiscated items were not replaced, leaving children to go hungry.

Mr Robinson said the department's ban on junk food under the Right Bite strategy launched last year by Health Minister John Hill and Education Minister Jane Lomax-Smith, applied only to food and drinks sold in school canteens and vending machines. Birthday cakes and food or drinks from home are not covered by the ban.

But according to a February 27 memo sent to principals and preschool directors by department deputy chief executive Jan Andrews, each school has discretion to ignore those instructions.

"It is up to each school and preschool community and their governing council to decide how to use the guidelines to encourage healthier eating beyond the requirement that bans junk food in school canteens and vending machines," the memo said.

Opposition education spokesman David Pisoni said schools were confused by the "mixed message".

"Parents are rightly angry - it should be about education and not confiscation, and kids should not go hungry because food is taken from lunchboxes," he said.

Mr Robinson, speaking yesterday on radio FIVEaa, said: "Teachers don't have any role in going through children's lunchboxes, that's entirely a matter for parents and the healthy eating guidelines don't cover (them)."

But Seaview Downs mother Cassandra Liebeknecht told The Advertiser that staff at her son's preschool had, over time, confiscated a small packet of potato chips and fruit bars.

"Where do you draw the line? Is white bread with jam on it healthy," she asked.

Child psychologist Dr Michael Carr-Gregg said: "This is an abuse of power.

"No school teacher has the right to go into a child's lunchbox and arbitrarily deem some food acceptable and some not. It is a blatant interference in the rights of parents and has to stop now."

Glasgow’s school children are being “driven away in droves” by healthy school meals, the head of the city’s catering has warned.

Fergus Chambers, executive director at Direct and Care Services, Glasgow City Council, told delegates at last week’s Local Authority Caterers Association that school caterers were losing out to local shops and takeaways.

Although Glasgow’s uptake is 50% at secondary level – high compared to England - it has dropped considerably since healthy meal options were made mandatory under the Hungry for Success initiative in 2006, a decline mirrored across Scotland.

And the problem could get worse, Chambers warned, pointing to the nutrient based standards for food set to come into force at Scotland’s secondary schools next September.

They are arguably more stringent than England’s with items such as chocolate (including cooking chocolate) Diet Coke, flavoured water and orange juice larger than 200ml outlawed.

“I guarantee uptake will continue to plummet if we go ahead with the nutritional standards as they are,” Chambers said. “We are facing the law of unintended consequences and fewer children eating school meals can’t be anyone’s objective.”

I don't know what the half of it is , it looks disgusting

it puts Scotland on the adversary map, hmmm.