Latest news with #FoodFoundation
The Independent
29-05-2025
- General
- The Independent
Schools urged to stop serving ham due to bowel cancer risk
Schools should stop serving sausage rolls and ham sandwiches due to their 'concerning' link with bowel cancer, a report has warned. The Food Foundation charity said schools should axe processed meat after revealing over a third (36 per cent) of meat eaten by children in the UK is processed. Ham is the most common meat used in school lunches, followed by sausages and sausage rolls at number five, according to the report. 'The current regulations for schools to serve meat three days a week should be relaxed,' the report, based on NHS diet surveys, warned. 'Guidance should recommend removing or limiting the amount of processed meat being served to schoolchildren.' Processed meat is meat that has been preserved by smoking, curing, salting or adding preservatives. This includes sausages, bacon and ham, as well as chicken nuggets. The charity said the amount of this kind of food eaten by Britain's youngsters was 'concerning' due to a greater risk of developing a number of chronic diseases including bowel cancer. Rebecca Tobi, a manager at the foundation, told The Times: 'The UK's food system is rigged against parents trying to feed their families healthy foods, with processed meat an affordable and all too available option when eating out of the home. 'As a nation we are eating too much processed meat, despite a very strong body of evidence linking it to a host of chronic diseases.' Early onset bowel cancer in those aged 25 to 49 is increasing globally, but England is among the countries with the biggest rise, averaging a 3.6 per cent increase every year, Cancer Research UK experts said. Last year, Michelle Mitchell, chief executive of Cancer Research UK, said: 'A cancer diagnosis at any age has a huge impact on patients and their families. 'While it's important to note that rates in younger adults are still very low compared to people over 50, we need to understand what's causing this trend in younger people.' Symptoms include changes in your poo, such as having softer poo, diarrhoea or constipation that is not usual for you, according to the NHS. Blood in your poo, which may look red or black, as well as tummy pain, a lump in your tummy, bloating and losing weight without trying are symptoms.
Times
29-05-2025
- Health
- Times
Schools ‘must expel ham from canteens' due to bowel cancer risk
Schools should stop serving sausage rolls and ham sandwiches because they increase the risk of diseases including cancer, a report has warned. Analysis by The Food Foundation found more than a third of meat eaten by children was processed or ultraprocessed — such as ham, sausages and chicken nuggets. The charity blamed the 'meaty menus' found in schools and at nearby takeaways for preventing children eating meals rich in plants and fibre or healthier, unprocessed meat products such as lean beef and chicken breast. Ham is the most common meat used in school lunches, followed by sausages, with sausage rolls at number five. The report found that 9 per cent of the meat eaten by children younger than 18 came from the toppings on pizzas. Processed meat is preserved through salting or the addition of chemical preservatives. Often the products, which include hot dogs and chicken burgers, undergo extensive industrial processing resulting in a high level of additives, artificial flavours and colourings. These products have been proven to increase the risk of bowel cancer. They can also put children at greater risk of developing conditions including type 2 diabetes and heart disease. • The report, based on an analysis of NHS diet surveys filled in by thousands of people, found that children ate proportionately more processed meat than adults. It called for government action to ensure that schools offered healthier alternatives at lunchtime. Rebecca Tobi, a manager at the foundation, said: 'The UK's food system is rigged against parents trying to feed their families healthy foods, with processed meat an affordable and all too available option when eating out of the home. As a nation we are eating too much processed meat, despite a very strong body of evidence linking it to a host of chronic diseases. 'It is particularly worrying to see children eating such a high proportion of processed meat, with schools and restaurants often serving up very meaty menus. Businesses and policymakers must work together for people and planet to ensure that healthier and more sustainable plant-rich options are more available and, crucially, more affordable to better support families.' Dr Panagiota Mitrou, a director at World Cancer Research Fund, said: 'The evidence is clear: eating high amounts of red meat and any amount of processed meat are both causes of colorectal cancer. We encourage people to limit consumption to no more than about three portions per week. 'The UK government must ensure that the risks of red and processed meat are reflected in strong policies for healthy people and planet, starting with robust rules to limit processed meat in schools.'
The Guardian
28-05-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
Relax guidance for meat three times a week in English schools, says charity
Guidance urging schools in England to serve children meat at least three times a week should be overhauled in order to increase the eating of vegetables and legumes, a leading charity has said. A report published by the Food Foundation has found that children eat proportionally more processed meat than adults, with more than a third (36%) of meat eaten by children coming from processed meat such as bacon, ham, and sausages, compared with 29% of adults. The study also found that 80% of the most commonly eaten meat dishes in schools and educational institutions are either processed or red meat. According to current government guidance, schools should provide a portion of meat or poultry for at least three days a week in school meals, which is part of the wider school food standards designed to ensure children have a balanced diet. However, the Food Foundation is calling for the requirement to be relaxed, and that increased consumption of fruit, vegetables, and legumes should be encouraged through a specific strategy. The charity is also calling for the strengthening of government procurement rules for schools and other public spaces where food is served, through a review of government guidelines. Rebecca Tobi of the Food Foundation, said: 'It's worrying that children are eating so much processed meat, especially in schools, where meals should be nourishing. 'The government should review the Government Buying Standards for Food and School Food Standards to ensure they align with the latest health and sustainability recommendations. This includes relaxing the rule requiring schools to serve meat three times a week and reducing the amount of processed meat served. 'This would let caterers offer more beans, pulses, wholegrains, and vegetables – improving health and cutting costs. Current policies don't support children's long-term health or British farmers, who face unfair competition from lower-standard imported processed meat.' The report also found that four-fifths of the most commonly eaten meat-containing dishes from fast-food outlets are likely to be processed and/or highly processed meat, while sausages and bacon are two of the five most commonly eaten dishes in casual dining restaurant chains. Processed meats, which can be high in salt and saturated fat, have been classified as carcinogenic by the World Health Organization (WHO). Cancer Research UK estimates that of the 42,000 new cases of bowel cancer that occur every year in the UK, 13% are caused by eating too much processed meat. Dale Vince, a green energy industrialist and campaigner, said: 'This report exposes the shocking fact that 80% of meat served in schools is either processed or is red meat, both of which are classified as carcinogenic by the WHO. Who in their right mind would do such a thing? Sign up to Headlines UK Get the day's headlines and highlights emailed direct to you every morning after newsletter promotion 'One of the most powerful things we can do for our health and that of our children is to reduce the consumption of meat. That's a fact. The science is clear, the benefits are obvious. The law is wrong.' A government spokesperson said: 'Through our plan for change, this government is determined to give every child the best start in life, which includes creating the healthiest generation of children in our history. 'That is why we are engaging with stakeholders on the School Food Standards to ensure that schools provide children with healthy food and drink options. 'More widely, we are urgently tackling the childhood obesity crisis by shifting our focus from treatment to prevention, including by limiting schoolchildren's access to fast food.'
The Guardian
11-03-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
If disaster strikes, will there be enough to eat? Britain should be prepared – but it isn't
'Keep calm and carry on.' We all know that famous second world war poster, don't we? But it's illusory: the poster was never publicly displayed during the war and only discovered by chance decades later. Illusions bedevil our readiness to cope with the crises we might face. Reviewing the state of UK civil food resilience for a National Preparedness Commission report, I found that there is, in fact, scant preparedness going on, and little attention given to involving the public. The official government resilience framework has three sound principles: first, take a 'whole of society' approach; second, prevention is better than the cure; and third, build a shared understanding of the risks. But what does this mean in practice? Not nearly enough. I found the further away from Whitehall I looked, the less people were being engaged. On the morning of 22 May last year, hours before the general election was called, the Conservative MP Oliver Dowden, then deputy prime minister, told a defence industries conference that he wanted everyone in the UK to store three days' worth of food and water. But this is scarcely realistic. For individuals juggling competing financial demands, food is the flexible item in their budget. Fixed costs come first. There are other problems too. The Food Foundation's 2025 Broken Plate report states: 'Healthier foods are more than twice as expensive per calorie than less healthy foods and less available. The most deprived fifth of the population would need to spend 45% of their disposable income on food to afford the government-recommended healthy diet – rising to 70% for households with children.' So with rampant diet and health gaps caused by income inequalities, any notion of a 'whole of society' solution evaporates. The national risk register, the UK's official list of 89 risks facing us, barely acknowledges food. It points to just one risk: food supply contamination, and that's on page 122 in the 2025 document. Yet almost all the expert opinion I canvassed predicted enormous short- and long-term food security challenges ahead. Think energy outages, ransomware attacks, AI/bot attacks, internet failure, chokepoints and trade disruption. Think geopolitical downturn, the spread of war and overt conflicts, and disinformation-led public panics. In addition, there are all the impacts of climate heating: biodiversity loss, too much or too little water, and soil erosion. It may salve the consciences of central government planners to put emergency preparedness advice on to a website, but it is clearly not enough. Two countries I examined, Latvia and Sweden, have developed practical advice. Last year Sweden produced a major reorientation of its food policy and intends to build more diversity into its food system, including creating dispersed national food stores. Sweden is also passing new legislation making it a responsibility of mayors to ensure that all are fed in a crisis. Storage has been central to crisis preparedness throughout human history, but in the modern world only Switzerland retains a national food store. So what should we do? My report argues that public protection depends on action at national, regional, community and household levels. Just telling the public to store food is ridiculous. As interviewees told me, it's a fantasy to think that everyone can look after themselves. Resilience isn't a bolt-on feature. It emerges from how the food system operates, how we relate with each other. For more than half a century, food companies have pursued lean efficiency. The only storage, as the logistics industry told me, is what's on the motorway in delivery lorries. 'Just in time' management hates storage. That's why I propose that we switch to a 'just in case' approach. This needs community action, not just top-down advice. Already there are UK communities, towns and some cities that see the need for this. In Yorkshire, the FixOurFood coalition of communities, suppliers and academics has created a network of advice and knowledge about who can do what now. In Flintshire and Edinburgh community gardeners have trialled alternatives to our dependency on the big retailers. Building community solidarity is a process. Latvians I spoke to said: 'We tell our people that if Russia invades, government will collapse.' This advice is given not to scare people but to focus the public's attention so people know how to help themselves and each other if shocks do come. Every household has a pack of cards containing this information. Rule number one in resilience planning is to try to prevent crises in the first place via a sustainable food system. But rule number two is to help build capacities to bounce back after shocks hit. Things won't be the same. A country that expects food to be on shelves 364 days a year (Christmas Day excepted) just isn't prepared for shocks. The Fair Food Futures Project has been asking communities in Bradford and London's Tower Hamlets to assess what emergency food systems they have by mapping 'community food assets'. I think this is essential. Your local cafe or pub might be where simple meals can be cooked after a shock. At a restricted official meeting I attended last year, we were all asked how many of us had a 'grab bag' – a carrier you can sling over your shoulder to escape when danger strikes, with essentials such as passport, bank details, phone, charger, keys, glasses, medication, child essentials, cash, contact details and food. We were also asked how many of us kept a store for emergencies. Most kept the bag; fewer had an emergency store of food. But then it's easier to prepare a grab bag than it is to lay down heavy and costly stores of food, much less water, which is what you most need in the short term. The Swiss Federal Office for Civil Protection reminds its citizens that they can go without food for 30 days but without water for only three. The truth is that we UK citizens live in a fantasy world – a legacy of the British empire – that someone far away will always feed us. At the same time, business knows that there are shocks ahead too big for even them to handle. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs says 2025 is the year it addresses food security and resilience. It must. Only the government can provide the direction that is sorely needed. The public must hold it to account, hopefully before calamity strikes. Tim Lang is professor emeritus of food policy at the Centre for Food Policy, City St George's, University of London
Yahoo
23-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
‘We've cut back on holidays and stopped employing a cleaner': Meet the ‘middle-class poor'
'Middle class' used to be shorthand for a certain lifestyle. Holidays once or twice a year, perhaps a fortnight in Tuscany and skiing in France at half term. Eating out regularly, and an Ocado van parked outside the house, sagging with hummus and sourdough. Homeware from John Lewis, weekend dinner parties with 'good' wine… all the trappings for which we mocked ourselves but still thoroughly enjoyed. Then there were the solid pensions, the secure savings, the family property on a leafy street near good, perhaps even private, schools. As members of the middle classes, it all seemed within reach. Now, however, not so much. The cost of living crisis saw energy bills shoot up 54 per cent in April 2022, then a further 27 per cent in October that year – and they still hover far above pre-crisis levels. Meanwhile, the Food Foundation reveals the average food basket cost has risen by 27.3 per cent since 2022. UK housing now costs 44 per cent more than it does in the 38 member countries of the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development), with lucky Dutch families a huge 39 per cent better off than we are. The Office of National Statistics defines a middle-class salary as between around £30,000 and £60,000. Yet the Financial Fairness Trust (FFT) recently found that around 20 per cent are 'struggling to afford food and essentials', while many others are using savings to live on or accruing debt. Policy adviser at the FFT, Donald Hirsh, said: '(It's affecting) people who you would expect to be doing OK. Being on a middle income does not make people secure in the current cost of living crisis.' Author of Leadership is a Skill, and leadership development trainer, Andy Coley, 48, lives in London. He is married with three children and says: 'We've cut back on holiday plans, even UK trips, and we've switched to shopping in places like Aldi and B&M. We've also stopped employing a cleaner and taking the bedding to the laundrette. Now, we do endless loads of washing instead.' School uniforms are bought on Vinted, he adds, and rather than fork out for kids' clubs in the holidays, 'we now can't work simultaneously. Instead, we've been juggling it between us.' Coley notes that 'lots of our friends are also having to economise, particularly those who are self-employed. If things don't improve, we'll have to think seriously about moving out of London.' It's not just the self-employed struggling, either. Many previously iron-clad middle-class careers, including those in the media and hospitality, are shedding jobs like autumn leaves. The number of employees in the UK dropped by 47,000 in December, and job-search site Indeed reported overall postings are down 14 per cent since early 2020. Doctors and teachers are quitting in droves, largely due to stress. More than 40 per cent of GPs see themselves leaving the profession in the next five years, according to the Royal College of General Practioners, while figures from the Department of Education show almost 9 per cent of teachers dropped out of schools in 2022. Elsewhere, university leavers, who were once guaranteed good jobs, are struggling to even get a toe on the career ladder. I'm not issuing invitations to the world's tiniest violin recital here, but it's clear that having what used to be considered a decent career is now nowhere near enough to enjoy the perks it once bestowed. Katie Mitchell runs a baby photography business and lives in Gloucester with her Army officer husband and their seven-year-old son. 'Previously we were both in the Army and commanded a good wage. Then we had our son and I became self-employed,' she explains. 'I was starting to grow the business, then our mortgage almost doubled in January last year and it's been a struggle ever since.' Bills have gone up, too, she adds. 'We were spending over £300 a month. I went through a phase of trying to stop heating the house unnecessarily and it was just miserable.' Now, Mitchell works long hours. 'I love growing the business, but every time it reaches a milestone, the bills go up, so I never feel I'm getting anywhere.' She adds: 'We live on our overdraft a lot more than we used to, which is something we never would have done in the past. We've accrued debts with surprise payments, too – for instance, our roof needed fixing.' Mitchell has also switched her vehicle to electric to save on fuel, and committed to a 'no-spend January'. 'Normally, we'd grab a treat from the shop after school or I'd go to a coffee shop to work. Now I buy treats at the supermarket rather than on impulse. I cook at home a lot more, whereas in the past we might have gone to eat at the pub or got fish and chips.' And while she's clinging to her gym membership, 'I'd no longer pay for a massage or a spa day with friends. I go on boring walks instead.' Like many of us, Mitchell misses holidays the most. 'We need to prioritise paying off the debts first. Once, we would have gone skiing every year or somewhere warm in summer, but that's not happening.' Middle-class cutting back has quietly become standard, she adds. 'People have said to me, 'I didn't realise you were struggling too'. But we're earning over £100k between us – how can you not live easily on that? It seems ridiculous.' She's not wrong. I too am one of a growing number of people who might be called 'middle-class poor'. In my case, we haven't had a holiday since 2019 (an off-season week in Spain) and I never buy new books – once my greatest joy. Instead, I hang around BorrowBox, the online library, waiting to see if anyone's returned the latest Lisa Jewell. Ditto clothes – I've always enjoyed a bargain, but the £1 rail at the local community shop is now my go-to. And rather than shop at the lovely local deli, where I used to buy Teapigs (£10.95 for 50 bags, yes, I know), I've secretly begun to frequent Farmfoods for bulk buys of Yorkshire Tea. Thankfully, Ocado and M&S – food-shopping temples for the middle class – seem to grasp the problem. Despite post-budget worries, Ocado CEO Hannah Gibson has promised that the beloved grocer is 'very focussed on the value that we offer… there will be additional costs and we'll continue to work to make sure we're mitigating that so we can protect our consumers.' M&S CEO Stuart Machin has also said the store aims to shield customers from rising prices. But even if we can still pick up a Honduran prawn sandwich at lunchtime, that won't change school fees, childcare costs and household bills. 'I see first-hand how rising costs are making life tougher, even for those who wouldn't usually consider themselves struggling,' says Louisa Willcox, a South West-based 'Profit Mentor' who helps businesses manage their money. 'I live with my husband and two children, and, despite running a successful business, we've had to adjust our spending.' Things like clothes shopping, home improvements and spontaneous treats have all been scaled back. 'When everything from the food shop to the gas bill is going up, something has to give,' she says. 'You go to the supermarket and spend £50 on what used to cost £30. A family day out now feels like a luxury instead of a normal treat. It's frustrating and so many people are trying to figure out where they can cut back without feeling like they're missing out too much.' And while some middle-class midlifers have savings and hefty pension pots to rely on, others, like me, do not. I've been a self-employed writer and novelist for 30 years, and was very much of the 'grasshopper' mentality when it came to money; 'You never know when you'll be paid, so buy those shoes while you can' was my approach. Two large Victorian houses slipped through my fingers, the profits from which dwindled to nothing post-divorce. Now, [even] though my husband and I live in a small cottage in rural Scotland, the cost of gas and electricity is, quarterly, more than my parents paid for the house I grew up in. I know, of course, that compared to millions I'm still enormously lucky and any future pension penury is entirely my own fault. But I am wondering what will become of the pleasures that for decades, the middle-class backbone of Britain has taken for granted. Trips to restaurants, good food and wine, a choice of schools, sunny holidays, decent-size homes on reasonably pleasant streets… increasingly, those things are out of reach, and we're working not for enjoyable extras, but to keep the roof over our heads. We're cutting corners, failing to save, buying less treats, using fewer services – all of which has a giant knock-on effect on the economy. Could this crisis mean the end of the middle classes as we know them or are we just biding our time until we have enough saved to make a triumphant return to John Lewis? 'I can't see things getting any easier or cheaper for at least five years,' admits Coley. 'It's taken a long time to get this terrible and it'll take a while to bring down costs, improve people's earnings – and get people feeling happier about spending money again.' Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
