School cafeterias would replace lunch boxes under Flinders push

Busy parents want to dump the lunch box and hand responsibility for meals to their kids schools. And SA experts think they’ve got the right idea.

Flinders University researchers are lobbying the state Commissioner for Children and Young People to support the introduction of US-style school lunches in South Australia.

A new survey shows strong support from parents for the move to hand responsibility for the midday meal to schools.

The move would signal the end of the morning rush to pack the traditional lunch box, with many time-poor families ready to let schools take the lead on what to feed their children.

The researchers want students to all eat the same lunch meals to ensure good nutrition and less playground squabbling over lunch box contents, although issues from vegan diets to cultural dietary rules would need to be worked through.

Healthy school lunch box.

The plan, which was first revealed in the Sunday Mail in January last year, would cost as little as $4 a day per child, according to the researchers, who are promoting the scheme at academic conferences.

Professor Rebecca Golley, from the university’s Caring Futures Institute, said the commissioner’s policy advisers were “willing to explore” the initiative. It follows a national survey by the university that found strong support from parents for schools to take over the responsibility of supplying students’ lunches.

“A total of 86 per cent of Australian parents surveyed see school-provided meals as viable solution with health, learning, social and environment benefit,” Professor Golley said.

Existing school facilities such as canteens could be repurposed into commercial kitchens, and the plan could result in other initiatives such as a community restaurant at some schools that would feed students by day and cater to the public in the evening.

Other ideas include food trucks or preparing midday meals off-site and then heating them at schools.

Proponents say as well as ensuring good nutrition for children who may miss out on a lunch box or have one heavy on sugary treats, the move would be a way of encouraging children to try new types of food they don’t experience at home.

Professor Golley said school cafeterias could reduce the stigma of children not having lunch or having different types of foods to their peers, and ensure they are provided with healthy lunch options.

“I would love to see it as something SA takes on – an innovative, new nutritional approach,” she said.