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In April 2001, Compulsory Regulations Governing Nutritional Standards For ...

In April 2001, compulsory regulations governing nutritional standards for school lunches were published by The Department for Education and Skills (2001). These standards focused on foods rather than nutrients, and were implemented in England and Wales. Although these standards adhere to the Eight Guidelines for a Healthy Diet (MAFF, 1990; revised 1997) and The Balance of Good Health (BoGH) (HEA, 1994), evidence still suggests that the nutritional standards are failing to encourage children to select combinations of foods that contribute to a healthy diet overall. Furthermore, even if healthy food is on offer often no policy is in place to monitor children's choice of food (Cheater, 2001).

2.2 Factors that Influence Children's Eating Patterns
The apparent unfitness of many of our children's diets is a complex and multi-factorial issue. Some possible explanations for poor dietary intake in children may be that of food dislike, parental influence and peer pressure, lack of education, poor cooking skills and economic considerations.
2.2.1 Variation in food consumption by socioeconomic status
There is mounting evidence that socio-economic factors do indeed have an impact on the type of foods consumed by young children. One example of this is illustrated by findings of the National Diet and Nutrition Survey (Gregory et al, 2000). In a typical week, children from lower socio-economic households consume more burgers, kebabs, chips and sugary foods and less fruit, vegetables and fresh fruit juice compared with children from higher socio-economic households. In a study conducted by the Institute for Social and Economic Research (2005), it was found that changes in calorie consumption due to income variations are relatively low (elasticity close to zero) but in general positive, meaning that as income rises, consumption rises as well, but less than proportionally. It also postulates that as incomes increase, it is much easier for people to change food than the quantity of intake. This supports the findings of the Diet and Nutrition Survey in 2005 explained above.
Because the evidence is clear that inequalities exist in the consumption of health promoting fruits and vegetables, two initiatives have been introduced in attempt to address this problem: the Minimum Nutrition Guidelines (The Department for Education and Skills (DfES), 2001), and the National School Fruit Scheme (DoH, 2000). These serve to illustrate the level of importance of encouraging children to embrace healthy eating patterns in school, however, despite government efforts there are still many children bringing in less healthy food and drink items from home, and therefore fall short of the RNI for many nutrients.

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