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Response by The McCarrison Society, Scottish Group to the
Schools (Nutrition and Health Promotion) (Scotland) Bill

The McCarrison Society for Nutrition and Health exists to promote health in the community by advocating sound nutrition according to the teachings of the late Sir Robert McCarrison, a medical doctor. Some 70 years ago, he maintained that, to ensure good health, food should be consumed as close as possible to its natural state and be grown on healthy soil using natural fertilisers rather than chemicals, backing up his conclusions by a series of ground-breaking and compelling animal experiments. He also pointed out that if people did not abide by these principles, the result would be an escalation of degenerative diseases (1).

We believe that his position is vindicated by our current health problems and that his teachings remain entirely valid to the present day and are supported by an impressive body of evidence (2,3,4). The following recommendations for inclusion in the above bill are, to a great extent, based on these principles.

General Recommendations

The aim should be that all school children consume at least one healthy meal per day and that children, parents, catering staff and the community at large should be better educated and more knowledgeable about what constitutes healthy eating so that, in practice, children (and society generally) are likely to improve their eating habits for the rest of the day. Therefore we suggest that the focus be on providing free school lunches for all children and making sure that no unhealthy food is available to school children throughout the school day. Providing breakfasts should only be considered once these objectives have been achieved.

It is vitally important wherever possible to ban all unhealthy food from in or near school premises during the entire school day. This means that such unhealthy foods must be banned from not only school meals and snacks but also from school tuck-shops, vending machines and mobile shops within half a mile of the school gates.

We do not feel it is possible to insist in law that food provided by parents for their children, such as packed lunches or snacks, must comply with these standards. However distribution of educational leaflets on healthy eating to parents and involving them in demonstrations and workshops in the school on producing healthy food should be important features which should encourage better eating habits in both home and school.

Nutritional Standards

Although it would seem ideal to incorporate nutritional standards for important micro-nutrients (such as the minerals zinc, selenium, magnesium and chromium) we feel this is unrealistic at present. This is because the amounts of each of these micro-nutrients can vary so widely within the same foods depending on their source. Optimum micro-nutrient intakes are vitally important for the maintenance of good health and are dependent on the quality of the harvested crops or grazing/fodder animals are reared on and this, in turn, is largely dependent on the micro-nutrient composition of the soil. In other words, ‘nutrient dense’ food comes only from nutrient rich soil.

Therefore the standards recommended below are mainly food based. By carefully choosing, sourcing, storing and preparing food according to the principles stated above and the further recommendations detailed below, the meals and snacks provided will be likely to contain optimal amounts of both macro- and micro-nutrients. NB A major reason for excluding all processed food (apart from the likelihood of it containing unhealthy constituents) is that processing methods inevitably result in the removal of significant amounts of vitamins and minerals.

It is also important than decisions about present and future nutrient standards should be independent of the food industry. They should be decided upon the recommendations of such bodies as the Soil Association, the British Society for Ecological Medicine and the Caroline Walker Trust and not food manufacturers.

Sourcing/Storage of Food

Most school food (at least 60%) to be sourced locally (local = within a radius of 75 miles) and where possible much of it should be organic (at least 30%). We feel these are realistic targets for most schools. The supply chain and storage facilities should be closely regulated to ensure maximum freshness – for fruit and vegetables, supplies should be delivered at least twice weekly.

Food Preparation

Wherever possible food should be prepared and cooked on site in the school kitchen – this is a must for vegetables. Minimum standard training programmes need to be provided so that all school kitchen staff are well versed in the procurement, storage, preparation, cooking and presentation of food for healthy meals. This will include preparing vegetables as close as possible to meal times, batch cooking and not over-cooking vegetables.

Labelling of Ingredients

As so many children nowadays suffer from allergies and intolerances to specific foods, ideally a list of ingredients for each food item should be clearly displayed. If this is not practical, at least the ingredients for all food items should be known (or available) to kitchen staff so that any pupil asking for this information can be given it.

Education of the Community

The school curriculum to include lessons and projects pertinent to, and supportive of, the healthy eating and health promotion principles and practical measures being instituted both within the school and in the surrounding community. Cookery lessons for children should be reintroduced. As already mentioned, training programmes for kitchen staff and educational leaflets for, and full involvement of, parents should be key components of the scheme. Teachers should also have a basic training.

Exercise

Although our recommendations are mainly focussed on food, it is important to include recommendations in the bill, from relevant sporting and other bodies, as to the types and minimum amounts of exercise to be aimed for as part of the school curriculum. In this context it would seem vital for the government to take measures to prevent the on-going selling-off, and thus disappearance, of school playing fields and to preserve community play areas.

Further Requirements and Recommendations

The following 4 sections are adaptations of: DfES (2006b) ‘Nutritional standards for school lunches and other school food: final decisions on the report of the school meals review panel on school lunches and the advice of the school food trust on other school food’, London, DfES.

1) Requirements for School Lunches:

Ban all manufactured meat products and all processed food (including chemical additives, trans and saturated fats);
Oily fish at least weekly;
Wholemeal or high fibre bread to be available daily;
Home-made soup must be available daily in winter (October-March)
Reduce the use of deep frying to not more than once weekly;
limit available drinks to:
• water (still or sparkling);
• whole milk;
• pure fruit juices;
• drinks made from combinations of those in bullet points i to iii.

2) Requirements for Snacks:

Limit drinks as above;
Ban confectionery;
Allow only unsweetened/unsalted nuts, seeds, fresh/dried fruit and vegetables as snacks (can also be available at lunches).

3) Specific Recommendations:

Below are summarised the proportion of nutrients that children and young people should receive from a school lunch. The figures are for the required nutrient content of an average lunch over five consecutive school days:

Energy - 30% of the estimated average requirement (EAR)
(Note – since children are taking less exercise than 20 years ago, this may need to be reduced)

Protein - Not less than 20 Gm

Total carbohydrate - Not more than 80 Gm

Non-milk extrinsic sugars - Not more than 10% of food energy

Fat - Not more than 20 Gm

Saturated fat - Only that in portions of lean meat

Fibre - Not less than 35% of the calculated reference values.

4) Further Recommendations:

Fruit and vegetables – these include fruit and vegetables in all forms (whether fresh, frozen, canned, dried or as juice). Not less than 3 portions (excluding potatoes) per day per child, at least one of which should be salad or green vegetables and at least one should be fresh fruit, fruit tinned in natural juice or fruit salad (fresh or tinned in natural juice). A fruit based dessert shall be available at least twice per week in primary schools .

Meat, fish and other non-dairy sources of protein - these include meat and fish (whether fresh, frozen or canned); eggs; nuts; pulses; and beans (other than green beans). A food from this group should be available on a daily basis. Fresh meat and fish shall each be available at least twice per week.

Starchy foods (also see additional requirement on deep-frying below) - these include all breads (e.g. chapattis), pasta, noodles, rice, potatoes, sweet potatoes, yams, millet and cornmeal. A food from this group should be available on a daily basis.

Deep-fried foods - Meals should not contain more than one deep-fried item in a single week. Deep-fried or roasted potatoes shall only be available once a week.

Milk and dairy foods – includes milk, unprocessed cheese, natural yoghurt (without any added synthetic sugar or artificial sweeteners) and custard. A food from this group should be available on a daily basis.

Drinks - The only drinks available should be:
• plain water (still or fizzy);
• whole milk;
• pure fruit juices;
• drinks made from combinations of those in bullet points 1 to 3 of this list.
NB Water - There should be easy access at all times to free, fresh drinking water.

Salt and condiments - None should be available at the table. Salt should never be made available. Pepper mills can be available on the servery.

Confectionery and savoury snacks - Confectionery, chocolate and chocolate-coated products shall not be available throughout the lunch time. The only savoury snacks available should be nuts and seeds with no added salt or sugar.

Conclusions

The McCarrison Society welcomes the government’s initiative in putting forward this bill as there is a great danger of today’s children experiencing ill-health both now and in their later adult life. They will also benefit educationally – not only will healthier children mean better attendance at school but also, since sub-clinical micro-nutrient deficiencies often lead to mental problems, children with optimal children will tend to have better concentration levels, improved attention spans and higher IQs 7? And they will be less likely to suffer from hyperactivity and behavioural problems 8?, anxiety and depression.

However we would submit that, unless the principles and recommendations detailed above are adhered to, the laudable aims of the bill of improving our children’s health and welfare now and in the future will not be achieved. We therefore hope that our proposals will be taken seriously and acted upon. The Society and its members are very willing to be consulted at any time.

References

1 McCarrison Sir Robert. Nutrition and Health. The McCarrison Society 1953.
2 Prior Ian A M. The Price of Civilisation. Nutrition Today, July/August 1971, pp2-11.
3 Schaefer Otto. When the Eskimo Comes to Town. Nutrition Today, November/December 1971, pp8-16.
4 Anderson Ian. Modern Life is Killing Pacific Islanders. New Scientist, 14 July 1988, p 88.