A new UK survey by the Food Standards Agency today revealed that 9 out of 10 children's school lunchboxes contain foods that are too high in saturated fat, salt and sugar.

At lunchtime, children are eating as much as twice the recommended amount of sugar, close to half of their daily recommended salt intake, and are also having high levels of saturated fats. Of children who take a packed lunch to school, 80% tend to have similar items in their lunchbox every day.

The survey looked at 556 home-packed lunches for children from 24 primary schools across the UK and revealed that up to 40% of the saturated fat content in the lunchboxes came from butter and other fat spreads, up to 25% from cheddar cheese, up to 19% from crisps and up to 14% from chocolate bars and biscuits.

The survey also revealed that the majority of packed lunches would not meet the minimum standards set for primary school meals. In fact, of the surveyed lunchboxes, only 21% met these current national standards.

The most popular food items found in children's lunchboxes were a white bread sandwich, which was found in 87% of packed lunches, followed by crisps (71%), a biscuit or chocolate bar (60%) and dairy items such as yoghurts or fromage frais (48%). Fewer than half the packed lunches contained a portion of fruit.

Robert Rees, chef and Board member for the FSA said: "Parents face a daily challenge trying to get their children to eat healthy foods, and usually it's the children who call the shots when it comes to deciding what should go in their lunchboxes. Small changes to what children eat now can have a big impact on their diet and health in the future.

"Healthy options needn't be boring, and these tips and lunchbox suggestions should be popular not only with parents, but also with the children eating them. However, fewer than half of all children consume a lunch provided by school and the remainder are eating lunches provided from home or bought outside school premises."

Schools from across the UK took part in the survey including St Colmans Abbey and St Patricks, both from Newry.

(MB)