Excl: ‘Treat foods' to be axed from school meals programme
'Treat meals' such as burgers and chicken nuggets are to be axed from the school meals programme over concerns they are damaging the scheme's reputation, Extra.ie can reveal.
An internal briefing for Minister for Social Protection Dara Calleary, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, shows that the department aims to end weekly meals on the programme's menu that are 'high in saturated fat, salt and sugar' by this September.
In April, the hot school meals programme was expanded to include an additional 697 primary schools, and 3,200 schools and 550,000 children will be eligible for meals by the end of this year. Dara Calleary. Pic: Tom Honan
Before the April announcement, an internal briefing from the Department of Social Protection noted that the Department of Health recommended that fatty, salty and sugary foods should be removed from the programme by September 2025 because there was no nutritional reason to keep them and they undermined the initiative's health-based aims.
These items include processed meat or chicken products such as burgers, sausages and chicken nuggets as well as other high-fat food products such as chips, roast potatoes, fried potatoes and garlic bread.
Minister Calleary's briefing said there 'is no justifiable health reason for including this food on the menu' and that doing so makes it easier for parents to request these items, potentially leading to them being chosen more than the recommended once-a-week nutritional guideline. Treat meals are to be axed from the school meals scheme. Pic: Getty Images
'This makes it more difficult to audit and verify that this food option is only being provided once a week,' the briefing note said, adding that 'the inclusion of the 'treat' option is damaging for the reputation of the programme and is creating the impression that nutrition is not a priority'.
The budget for the hot school meals programme is approximately € 300 million for 2025, with a rate of €3.20 per hot meal.
The briefing note also stated that the Department for Social Protection 'will develop a communication strategy for parents or schools' with concerns about the menu change, and is working with the Department of Health to review nutritional standards.
It was noted that an estimated 300 schools were not part of the scheme and hadn't expressed any interest in joining.
The note said these schools 'will be contacted to understand the reasons for their non-engagement'.
'We will undertake a survey, some workshops and will engage with interested parties. Our objective is to encourage these schools to [be] onboard from September 2025,' officials said.
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