School Meals Week has a sporty theme this year

Sport is being used as part of the promotion of the 10th National School Meals Week, targeting "couch potatoes".

The chairman of the Local Authority Caterers Association, Vivianne Buller, said they knew the contribution school lunches made to children's diets.

But they were constrained by having to operate within the tight budgets for school food in England and Wales.

"If improving school meals is seen as the solution to reducing adult health problems and the nation's health bill in the future then the government should put its money where its mouth is," she said.

"The service cannot be seen as an instrument of social policy, child welfare or health reform if it has to continue to operate as a budget-driven commercial concern".

Sports support

This year nearly 13,000 schools throughout England and Wales have registered to participate in the week's activities, on the theme of "Food 4 Sport".

It has the backing of Sport England and the Sports Council for Wales, and eight other sports promotional bodies.

Those bodies are providing prizes of sports coaching sessions for competitions being organised for primary and secondary schools.

Sport England's chief executive, Roger Draper, said: "Inactivity and poor diet is potentially a health time bomb for young people.

"Playing sport in school and eating healthily puts reserves into the health bank for later life."

The government has also endorsed the aims of this year's week.

Investment

He said: "We know that the foundations for a physically active and healthy life are laid down at an early age and this is why it is imperative that the government invests in the teaching of these subjects in school.

"The Department for Education and Skills is continually looking at the ways to increase awareness of diet and exercise in pupils' education and National School Meals Week provides us with the ideal opportunity to promote the wider benefits to schools of teaching children about these subjects."

The department says it is for schools and local education authorities to decide how much they spend on school lunches.

Last week the Soil Association - which promotes organic produce - complained that the government spent about 60p a head on prison lunches and only 35p on primary school lunches.

It criticised caterers for using heavily processed food delivered through large supply chains rather than fresh, local produce.