King's College London , Department of Nutrition and Dietetics

The Department of Nutrition and Dietetics at King's College London developed the Secondary School Meals Research Project, 2003-2004. It was funded by the Department for Education and Skills and the Food Standards Agency, as a result of growing concern about childrens' diets and the quality of school meals.

In 1941 the first nutritional standards for school meals were established and later updated several times, for the last time in 1975. However, in 1980 the Education Act removed such nutritional standards and obligations from Local Education Authorities. In 2001 statutory National Nutritional Standards for school lunches were re-introduced. In order to understand the potential changes in the contribution of school lunches to daily intake and following the re-introduction of these standards, a survey of school meals, in a representative sample of English secondary schools, was commissioned.

The study had three main aims; to assess whether the food provided by the school caterer met the statutory 2001 National Nutritional Standards; to assess whether the food provided met the Caroline Walker Trust Experts Working Group's National Guidelines for School Meals; to identify the consumption and nutrient intakes of school children from school meals, then to compare these intakes to the guidelines set out in the Expert Working Group's Report. Food choices of 5,695 pupils from 79 English secondary schools were recorded.

Researchers were based at King's College London and the project was directed by Dr Michael Nelson of King's. This project's findings were reported in School Meals in Secondary Schools in England, 2004.