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School diet plan offers cut-price junk food
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A SCHEME to encourage healthy eating in Scottish schools has been branded a fiasco after it emerged youngsters are being 'rewarded' with discounts for fast-food chains and chip shops.
Thousands of pupils have been issued with electronic smart cards for use in school canteens, allowing teachers to monitor what they eat and recognise those who pick 'healthy' options.
Under the scheme, those who choose salads over soggy chips receive discounts at a range of shops selling everything from clothes to CDs.
But, in what critics claim is an astonishing muddle, the same card offers substantial savings at fast-food outlets such as McDonald's, KFC and Pizza Hut. In Edinburgh, arrangements have even been made for youngsters to enjoy hefty discounts at chip shops.
Obesity levels among Scottish youngsters are already considered to be at crisis level. Nutritionists last night expressed disbelief that a government scheme designed to encourage better eating habits was actively directing children towards fast food.
Despite the confusion, secondary schools in nearly half of Scotland's 32 council areas are set to abolish cash in their cafeterias. They are being replaced with cards, which can be topped up with cash or a regular cheque from parents.
The Scottish Executive is encouraging the move because ministers believe using cards instead of cash will ensure lunch money is spent in schools rather than local shops, as well as rewarding children who avoid fatty meals and snacks.
An existing scheme, known as the YoungScot card, has been available to schoolchildren for several years, allowing them to qualify for discounts at clothing and leisure stores when they present the card to shop staff.
The scheme also offers discounts on food, including a 25% discount from the total bill at Pizza Hut and a free extra hamburger for every £2.99 Value Meal purchased.
The YoungScot agency, which is backed by EU and Executive cash, was set up to promote youth interests, and offers its discount cards to all secondary-school pupils free of charge.
Councils adopting cashless catering want pupils to carry a single multi-purpose card and have 'piggybacked' the scheme onto the YoungScot cards.
The result is that the same card offering reward points for sensible eating in school is then used to go out and buy cheap burgers, pizzas and chips.
The school side of the scheme gives all food a 'points' value. Nutritionists decide that servings of fruit or fresh juice are worth a certain number of points, but fizzy drinks and sweets count for nothing.
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School managers monitor items purchased by individual pupils and tally up their health 'score'. Pupils then exchange points for rewards.
One of the experts who recommended the use of canteen smart cards condemned the move and said it was "totally inappropriate" for youngsters to be offered discounted fast food in the first place.
Professor Annie Anderson, director of the Centre for Public Health Nutrition Research at the University of Dundee, said: "It is totally inappropriate that a national youth scheme should promote fast food. Unfortunately KFC and McDonald's are part of our food culture, but we do not need to sell for them."
Fiona Hyslop, education spokeswoman for the SNP, said the combined cards would send out mixed messages on healthy eating to children.
"This smacks of hypocrisy. The whole point of this card is to educate people into healthy diets. Young people are not stupid and they will recognise themselves that these cards are a contradiction."
Eleanor Coner, information officer at the Scottish Parent Teacher Council, said: "Healthy eating is about a balanced diet. It is all right for youngsters to have a burger or a bag of chips once a week. But I do think that this scheme is giving a different message, and it is muddying the waters and quite confusing for younger children."
Fourteen local authorities have introduced or are in the process of introducing cashless catering in secondary schools, with the help of a £11m grant from the Scottish Executive.
Nine of these councils, including Edinburgh and Glasgow, have said they plan to monitor and reward healthy eating.
YoungScot defended the promotions, saying that their organisation encouraged healthy eating but did not want to 'preach' to youngsters.
Louise Macdonald, communications director for the scheme, said: "We take a balanced view on healthy eating but we don't believe in taking a Draconian approach with young people. We need to engage with them and we position ourselves in places where young people actually are. So we have discounts in places where young people will go.
By YAKUB QURESHI
Source: Scotland on SundayAll rights reserved.