Thread by @Telegraph

🎒Why is school food all so... beige?

Instead of relying on external companies, head teachers are hiring specialists to give pupils healthy meals

#Thread 👇

telegraph.co.uk/food-and-drink…

You probably remember the days of Jamie Oliver highlighting the poor standards of food in school canteens.

🔴But if you think that, more than 15 years later, things are any better, you might be disappointed

📸Andy Butterton

🍟A recent report from Bite Back 2030 revealed that we are, as Oliver said, risking "a return to the beige days" of chips, cheap chicken and white bread

🍕The report is packed with damning evidence that many schools are ignoring the School Foods Standards and regularly serving up "pizza, sausage rolls or pasties, chicken wings even"

📸John Birdsall/Alamy Stock Photo

❓So what’s gone wrong?

For a start, there are still the fundamental problems associated with outsourcing catering to large private companies

Alongside this long-term sticking point, many attribute the backsliding to issues associated with Brexit and the pandemic.

🍎There have been reports that supply-chain problems have led to caterers either serving up mouldy fruit, or stopping providing it entirely

🥪The government advice to work from home over the last 18 months, in tandem with staff shortages, led to some schools scrapping hot meals in favour of sandwiches.

🔎Read the full report here 👇

telegraph.co.uk/food-and-drink…