The Jamie Oliver School Meal Campaign - article written by Andy Reed MP

Whilst I am obviously delighted that Jamie Oliver has been able to use his celebrity status to raise an important issue it says a lot about our society that the media can only be bothered to highlight such a campaign when such a celebrity gets involved. It is the cult of celebrity that drives so much of our society these days. I wonder where the press and media were when the Education Select Committee were making the same points. I wonder where the press were when I was a sponsor of a Bill proposed by Debra Shipley MP on the banning of advertising for junk food to under 12s for example. I recall many times in Parliament when we have discussed the details of raising nutritional standards - to health and education Ministers.

I am not proud. I do not mind if an issue gets policies delivered because of the involvement of a celebrity or two, as I work with many celebrities on Comic Relief and the Make Poverty History Campaign. But I do get annoyed that the media, who have been too lazy to do any background work, think that this is the first time an issue has been raised and it has been ignored in the past. I just think back over the last few years and how many times I have raised this formally and informally with education Ministers alone. There are others who do it much more regularly. I have joined them by joining up their thinking with my campaign work on healthy life through exercise. I am grateful for the 'a piece of fruit a day' response and the already announced (before the programme went out) new nutritional standards being introduced this September.

There are some simple measures which could be introduced which would make a big difference and they don't all need cash. As I say I have supported a Bill in the Commons to ban the advertising of junk foods for the U12s. Such a ban works well in Sweden for example. We need minimum nutritional standards for all school meals. Where good schools operate they have been able to offer decent nutritional meals within the budget. They do this by being a bit more imaginative. That best practice needs to be replicated across the country.

However, lets not pretend this is just a school meals problem. Evidence, even from the Jamie oliver Programme, shows that just putting on a healthy meal is not enough. Where this happened children stopped eating school meals and started bringing in their own packed lunches - full of the unhealthy options parents were sending. This is a problem in society as a whole and we all need educating. I am not saying I have it right at home, but my son is allowed some crisps once a week if he eats his packed lunches - which include fruit etc. There has to be a balance. This also includes people walking to school rather than riding the 4x4. Don't just lay the blame at the door of the school again. Get involved in your own child's education and raise this with the governors. I know it was raised at the last governors meeting I attended some months ago!

Ok it is not enough and we need to do more, but for the media to portray this as a new Jamie Oliver event is somewhat misleading.

So well done Jamie. Nice to have you on board with the campaign many of us have been fighting for a time. I just hope you will work with those who support you. Perhaps next we could teach you how to get through a programme without swearing and giving our kids another bad example for a celebrity to follow!