From The Daily Mail:
School dinners are helping to fuel a rise in childhood obesity, Government advisers will warn today as they set out plans to revive packed lunches.
The chief executives of Kingsmill owner Allied Bakeries and Hovis owner Premier Foods, Henry Dimbleby and John Vincent, insist sandwiches are healthier and can provide more variety than the typical school dinner prepared by corporate outsourcing giants, usually including chips, doughy pizza or plain rice.
Their packed lunch plan, to be launched with education secretary Michael Gove, will say it is up to parents to improve quality and take-up of packed lunches.
Sandwich-making lessons at school are also to become compulsory for children ages seven to 14 from September as the Government aims to improve their understanding of spreads and fillings. Pupils will be expected to be able to make up to 20 different types of sandwich before taking their GCSE exams and encouraged to take the new NVQ in reparing toasters and sandwich makers.
The bakery chiefs have spent a year visiting more than 60 schools in the UK gathering evidence, and say packed lunches have improved greatly since celebrity sandwich maker Jamie Oliver began his crusade against Turkey Twizzlers in 2005.
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