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Where do children get their information about food? It’s clear that there isn’t a simple answer to this question, but we do know that a variety of influences will shape children’s understanding of food, nutrition and health.

Food and nutrition teaching in schools is one of the few places where a child can hope to receive accurate information about the effects of food on health, and what constitutes a healthy diet. Schools and parents are the joint guardians of children’s health. At least, that’s what we might hope.

However, many educational and health organisations have over the past few years become increasingly concerned that food education materials supplied to schools are frequently biased, sometimes inaccurate, often present only partial information, and may exploit children’s relative lack of knowledge about good nutrition.

In large part, this is due to the increasing use of materials produced by commercial companies – advertisements for food products thinly disguised as ‘educational’ resources. Most food trade associations produce educational materials, to help promote their members’ products. Many individual manufacturers also produce educational materials to ensure that children become aware of their food brands.

Other commercial activities in schools are also on the increase. Many secondary schools now raise money by having commercial vending machines in their school hallways.

Thousands of schools encourage children to collect tokens from crisp packets and snacks to exchange for books, computers or sports equipment. During the Walkers Crisps ‘Books for Schools’ promotion in 2001, one headmaster wrote to parents saying: “So, it’s crisps for breakfast, dinner, lunch and tea…”

Schools are, after all, a perfect opportunity for food manufacturers to reach a large group of children in one go, in an environment in which they are particularly receptive to information and promotional messages. These messages are often given the added weight of being delivered by the school itself. That’s if the school agrees to allow this to happen.

The problem with commercial promotions of food products to children is that almost without exception, the foods and drinks marketed through schools contain high levels of fat and/or salt and/or sugar. These are the very products that a child is likely to be told in health lessons to eat less of. Some examples are described below, all reported by parents and teachers from around the UK over the past few months.Many schools, especially those taking an active interest in health promotion, report that they are disturbed by the kinds of promotions and materials creeping into the education system. Some say that without vigilance by teachers, these commercial messages may skew children’s understanding of food and nutrition. Others say that they don’t understand why these commercial promotions of food are allowed in schools at all. The government’s response is that it’s up to individual schools to make their own decisions.

Let’s be in no doubt that what children eat, and the understanding they develop of what constitutes a healthy diet, is crucial for their future health. At present, as government and other research shows:

• British children eat less than half the recommended portions of fruit and vegetables a day.

• The majority of British children have intakes of saturated fat, sugar and salt that exceed the maximum adult recommendations.

• About 9% of boys and 13.5% of girls in England are overweight.

• Between 1984 and 1994, the prevalence of obesity in English primary school children increased by 140%.

• More than half of 4 to 18 year olds have some dental decay.

• A diet high in fatty, sugary and/or salty foods, and low in foods containing useful nutrients and dietary fibre, may increase the risk of developing coronary heart disease, some cancers, hypertension, diabetes and numerous other health disorders.

• Poor diets may affect concentration, performance and behaviour in the classroom.

With these compelling facts in mind, many teaching unions, educational groups and health organisations came together in a meeting this year to say: What’s going on? How can we ensure that consistent healthy eating messages are presented in schools, free from promotion of fatty, salty and sugary foods?

This meeting, initiated by the charity Sustain: The alliance for better food and farming, is now working to assess the nature and extent of commercial food promotions in schools.

At present, schools make their decisions individually about what is acceptable, and what level of commercialisation they will allow. But they lack the national picture of what is going on, the context within which their decisions are being made, and an analysis of how their decisions will affect children’s health and understanding of nutrition.

The meeting decided that there was a need to assess how big the problem is, and whether individual schools have developed progressive or healthy ways of dealing with this issue.

Any responses submitted will be treated in strictest confidence. While it is the intention that information received will be used to put together a report, your personal details, and the names of individual schools will not be included unless permission has been granted. We’d also be pleased to hear from anyone who’d like to be kept informed on the progress of this research.

Can you help? The group is collecting information about the kinds of commercial food promotions taking place in schools throughout the UK. If you are able to respond to any or all of the following questions, you will help schools to develop a valuable national picture of what’s going on around the UK.

1. Does the school you work for, or which your child attends, use educational materials sponsored by food companies? E.g. Food-company sponsored posters, exercise books, worksheets, information booklets, etc. Can you describe examples?

2. What drinks and snacks are on sale from the school’s vending machines and/or tuck shops? E.g. crisps, chocolate bars, muesli bars, fruit, sugary fizzy drinks, plain bottled water, chewy sweets.

3. Has the school taken part in a ‘tokens for goods’ scheme run by a food company, e.g. Walkers Crisps ‘Books for Schools’? Which scheme(s)?

4. Is there a good or bad story you’d like to share about food promotions and food education in the school?

Please send your responses by email to School Food – schoolfood@foodcomm.org.uk.

The data is being collected and collated by The Food Commission, 94 White Lion Street, London N1 9PF. Tel: 020 7837 2250.