School dinners 'by far the best option'

School dinners have improved but there should be a drive to get more children eating them as the take-up remains stubbornly low, an association of school caterers says.

Free schools and academies are currently exempt from the government's nutritional guidelines, but research found 92% of parents wanted to see the same standards applied to all schools.

The chair of the Lead Association for Catering in Education said people still remember soggy cabbage and lumpy custard, but reckoned "there has been really good hard work" to improve the food, and that: "We are finally cooking on gas".

Anne Bull said only 1% of packed lunches meet nutritional standards for school food, and that hot school meals were "by far the best option".

Mrs Bull will be a guest on BBC2's Daily Politics where she will discuss the film at around 12:40 GMT.

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