Serving up salad success at school dinners | Letters

The government’s plan to ban unhealthy items from the school menu is what I call the killjoy option (‘No cheeseburgers … they would go bankrupt’: pupils reject plan to cut fatty foods from lunch menus, 17 April). It will only alienate headteachers and pupils alike, and it certainly does not encourage healthy eating. When I was manager of school dinners in Hackney in 1985 we introduced self-service salad bars at the entrance to the canteens. The main opposition to this initiative came from headteachers who thought that it would be practically unfeasible and probably unpopular. In the primary and secondary schools where we managed to convince headteachers to have a go, the salad bars proved to be a great success. Pupils filled their plates with salad and had less room for the less healthy items. Examination of food waste at the end of the service indicated that the salad had mostly been eaten. There was also an unforseen benefit. The overboiled cabbage rejuvenated to a livid green by the addition of bicarbonate of soda that regularly contributed a fair share of food waste was replaced by coleslaw with all vitamins and minerals still intact. Robin Jenkins Jimena de la Frontera, Spain • Carshalton Boys Sports College, where I’m a parent trustee, has never outsourced its catering. Our excellent in-house team can tackle the challenge of introducing teenage boys to lentils without the additional pressure of corporate overheads or the profit margin of outsourcing companies. I commend our approach to other schools: you can do it. Paul Flowers Carshalton, London