War on Junk food continued...

New Zealand is following the UK's crusade to ban junk food in schools. The NZ governenment is banning foods such as sugery drinks and pies in schools, in a bid to combate NZ's growing child obesity problem. Reproduced below is a NZ Herald article on the new governemnt policy and another article on Jamie Oliver's continued campaign for healthy eating in UK schools.

Unhealthy foods get chop from tuck shops
Friday September 22, 2006
By Martin Johnston
Unhealthy food will be banned from school tuck shops next year under policies designed to help control a worsening obesity epidemic.
Pies, sugary soft drinks and chips face the chop under the policies unveiled yesterday.
They also aim to cut TV watching and encourage more physical activity.
Underlining the policies' significance, five Government ministers lined up to announce them at the Aotea Centre alongside the World Health Organisation's week-long Asia-Pacific regional meeting.
Main changes will be:
* Development of national nutritional guidelines for schools and early childhood centres. These will identify food and drinks in three categories - suitable for everyday consumption and to be promoted, for limited provision during the school day and not recommended to be provided.
* Enforcement of the guidelines by school boards, to be audited by the Education Review Office.
"It essentially is a banning," said Education Minister Steve Maharey. "The guidelines mean that something like the high level of sugar, salt and fat on the shelves of some schools won't be able to be there in future."
Health Minister Pete Hodgson said the three-tier classification system was yet to be developed but could be the "traffic-light" system of red, orange or green labels now used in Europe.
This could later be applied to the country's whole food supply.
He expects the new school system to be operating by the start of the next academic year.
The regulations will require school boards "to develop policies that promote and achieve healthy nutrition and reduce the consumption of unhealthy foods and drinks".
They will also apply to children's lunch boxes although, unlike for canteens, schools will not be expected to "achieve" healthy foods. The requirement will be to have policies on bringing healthy food and drink.
"We're not policing what goes into a [lunch] box," said Mr Maharey.
"It's really about trying to develop a good, positive lifestyle that kids will want to live, not brow-beating them into not having a cookie now and again."
The nutrition guidelines and regulations are among 10 schemes announced yesterday in a $67 million attack on obesity.
It is part of the $76.1 million committed in this year's Budget for anti-obesity work over four years.
Others are nutrition training for teachers, guidelines - yet to be written - on food advertising to children, expanding the Push-Play social marketing campaign to promote "screen-free" time, encouraging public servants, including at the Ministry of Health, to lead by example in being more physically active and using music, screen and sport stars to promote healthy choices to young people.
The Government is worried about a blow-out in public health system costs from the escalation of obesity-caused type 2 diabetes, a problem which may mean the current generation of children will live shorter lives than their parents.
The adult rate of obesity has more than doubled since 1977 - 21 per cent are now classified as obese, a further 35 per cent as overweight. Among children, 10 per cent are obese and 21 per cent are overweight.
Principals Federation national president Pat Newman said schools supported improving nutrition and many were doing so - most primary schools had removed sugary soft drinks - but he objected to the Government forcing nutrition rules on schools and to the lack of consultation.
"Before [this] we could do as much as we can; now we're legally the meat in the sandwich."
The Food Industry Group's executive director, Rob Bree, said it was involved in developing the school food classification system and doubted the Government would ban any food.
Greens health spokeswoman Sue Kedgley said the school nutrition policies were "a great start in transforming school food".
Junk-food ban in schools leaves nasty taste for some
Ashleigh Webster and her friends don't see the sense in banning unhealthy foods from schools.
"I think it's dumb," the 15-year-old Auckland Girls' Grammar School student said yesterday.
"It's our own choice really. It's up to the school if they want to let us eat unhealthy food.
"I get enough healthy food at home. I normally bring lunch - a sandwich of salad and meat, fruits, something that's not healthy to balance it out, like a muesli bar or chips."
Ashleigh sometimes buys a pie on the way to school, which is cheaper than buying one at school.
But older pupils Rachelle Peterson, 18, and Jacquelyn Myocevich, 17, can see good reason for removing unhealthy foods such as pies.
"All those studies show fat food makes you tired," said Jacquelyn.
"Eat fruit and it will make you more enthusiastic about going to class for the last two periods rather than going home to sleep.
"Our cafe has a lot of variety. Salads. Sandwiches. We have more healthy food available than junk foods. We have pies."
Sandwiches cost more than $3, she said, and pies $2.
Rachelle: "If someone has got $2 they will buy whatever is cheaper, which is the pie."

'Idiot' junk-food parents feel the wrath of Jamie
TV chef Oliver accuses adults of sabotaging healthy eating crusade
By Lauren Veevers and Anthony Barnes
Published: 17 September 2006

Jamie Oliver last night vented his anger at parents who wilfully ignore and even "sabotage" his healthy eating manifesto.
The TV chef-turned-nutrition campaigner has convinced the Government and schools to revamp children's menus, but there has been continuing resistance from some parents.
The latest evidence of a backlash came on Friday when two mothers from Rotherham, South Yorkshire, collected fast food orders and made deliveries at the gates of a school. They claimed Oliver's regime made kids too picky. Julie Critchlow, one of the mums, said: "Food is cheaper and better at local takeaways."
In a one-off programme, Return to Jamie's School Dinners, to be screened on Channel Four tomorrow night, Oliver rants about how parents are "arseholes" and "tossers" for giving their children fizzy drinks and crisps. His fury was prompted by an off-screen exchange with a mother he met during filming who was giving her one-year-old child Coca-Cola and said she would not make shepherd's pie because it was "too posh".
Many children around the UK are turning away from hot dinners. Figures from the School Food Trust show the number of children who had school dinners last year has dropped by 5.8 per cent in primary schools and 4.9 per cent in secondary schools.
A spokesman for Oliver said he had come up against parents who gave their children nothing but crisps, chocolate and fizzy drinks for lunch, never cooked from scratch and had never given their children fruit.
"All of these things made him angry," the spokesman said. "That's why he wants to see all kids having a nutritious hot school meal... even if they're eating rubbish when they get home."
At Thomas Tallis school in Greenwich, south-east London, Oliver ordered a junk food amnesty and the pupils, grudgingly, gave up their junk food in return for a burger bar where they could get salads and freshly cooked burgers.
The burger bar has been successful. Takings for meals at the school reached £4,000 in the first three days of this term - compared with around £2,400 in the first three days of last term.
However, research commissioned by Tesco revealed last week that more than two million children skip school dinners and use the money to buy junk food. One in four aged four to 16 preferred to have chips for lunch, and 14 per cent admitted binning fruit.
Jamie Oliver last night vented his anger at parents who wilfully ignore and even "sabotage" his healthy eating manifesto.
The TV chef-turned-nutrition campaigner has convinced the Government and schools to revamp children's menus, but there has been continuing resistance from some parents.
The latest evidence of a backlash came on Friday when two mothers from Rotherham, South Yorkshire, collected fast food orders and made deliveries at the gates of a school. They claimed Oliver's regime made kids too picky. Julie Critchlow, one of the mums, said: "Food is cheaper and better at local takeaways."
In a one-off programme, Return to Jamie's School Dinners, to be screened on Channel Four tomorrow night, Oliver rants about how parents are "arseholes" and "tossers" for giving their children fizzy drinks and crisps. His fury was prompted by an off-screen exchange with a mother he met during filming who was giving her one-year-old child Coca-Cola and said she would not make shepherd's pie because it was "too posh".
Many children around the UK are turning away from hot dinners. Figures from the School Food Trust show the number of children who had school dinners last year has dropped by 5.8 per cent in primary schools and 4.9 per cent in secondary schools.
A spokesman for Oliver said he had come up against parents who gave their children nothing but crisps, chocolate and fizzy drinks for lunch, never cooked from scratch and had never given their children fruit.
"All of these things made him angry," the spokesman said. "That's why he wants to see all kids having a nutritious hot school meal... even if they're eating rubbish when they get home."
At Thomas Tallis school in Greenwich, south-east London, Oliver ordered a junk food amnesty and the pupils, grudgingly, gave up their junk food in return for a burger bar where they could get salads and freshly cooked burgers.
The burger bar has been successful. Takings for meals at the school reached £4,000 in the first three days of this term - compared with around £2,400 in the first three days of last term.
However, research commissioned by Tesco revealed last week that more than two million children skip school dinners and use the money to buy junk food. One in four aged four to 16 preferred to have chips for lunch, and 14 per cent admitted binning fruit.