Ham sandwiches suit school lunches fine, Telegraph voters say

The Cancer Council may have panned the humble ham sandwich, but Daily Telegraph readers have thrown their support behind the school lunchbox staple. See the poll results here.

Ham sandwiches may have copped it from The Cancer Council but Daily Telegraph readers are keen to see the lunchbox staple stay.

In a poll on whether the pork-based sandwich is too unhealthy to take to school, an overwhelming 89 per cent of readers voted in support of the classic lunchtime option.

Just 11 per cent of respondents said that ham was too unhealthy for parents to pack for school lunches.

It comes as children have been told to stop eating ham sandwiches in messages created by the Cancer Council and slipped into public school newsletters by teachers.

The anti-meat edicts say “DITCH THE HAM SANDWICH” and were sent out this term while previous memos encouraged children to have a meat free Monday.

But Premier Dominic Perrottet has invoked Homer Simpson over the Cancer Council’s ham-fisted lunch advice, adding “maybe they could sit this one out”.

On Tuesday the Premier, who has seven children, instead threw his support behind pork products.

“Didn’t Homer Simpson call the pig the amazing, wonderful animal? And we all love pig. We all love ham, and pork and bacon, and I think it’s great for kids,” he told journalists.

“I know with my kids, I start the week with ham and it kind of deteriorates over the course of the week, but the Cancer Council does a great job, but maybe they could sit this one out.”

And pork producers have defended the humble ham sandwich from attack while nutritionists have said it is not helpful to demonise a particular lunch box staple when it comes to healthy eating.

Bringelly Pork and Bacon owner David Bligh said the messaging from health experts was now over the top.

The humble ham sandwich is getting a bad rap from the Cancer Council.

“Ham is actually a product which has been developed over the last 5000 years and people have eaten it through the ages without any problems,” he said.

“I think sometimes these politically correct messages can go a little bit too far and not be as practical as they should be.

“The levels of paranoia on this can be too great.”

A Cancer Council spokeswoman said the leaflets calling to ban the ham sandwich had been sent out this term but others including the meat-free Monday were part of a long running health campaign to get children eating better food.

“Because there is strong evidence that eating processed meats and too much red meat is associated with increased risk of bowel cancer, our cancer prevention messages advise everyone to limit their processed meat consumption and cut down on red meat,” she said.

She said schools were sent the messages to include in material sent out to the general community but they were not forced to publish them.

One newsletter edict encourages families to ditch ham.

Another encourages kids to adopt “meat-free Mondays”.

A spokeswoman for the NSW Department of Education described ham sandwiches as “timeless schoolyard delicacies” and assured this newspaper they had not been banned.

“For many students, no lunch box is complete without a ham sandwich. No public school has banned these,” she said.

Nutritionist Kristen Beck said it was not helpful to single out foods like ham and demonise them to children when there were probably other worse things in their lunch box.

“The World Health Organisation has associated processed meats with increased risk of cancer,” she said.

“But it would depend on the processing of the ham … a ham and salad sandwich would be far preferable to a lot of other things in school lunch boxes.

“Is it ham off the bone, has it been smoked, what sort of processing has it gone through? It is a little bit of an over-reaction to demonise one particular food.”

Kye Hudson’s kids Spencer-Rose, 4, and Logan, 6, frequently enjoy ham sandwiches in their lunch boxes. Picture: Justin Lloyd

“I would say just mix it up with chicken, cheese and salad, you don’t always have to have meat in it.

“There is a difference between good quality ham off the bone and a really processed ham.

“You don’t have to have meat every day, but you also don’t have to become a vegan.”

Box Hill mum Kye Hudson said she gave her son Logan, 6, a ham sandwich in his lunch box numerous times a week. She joked it was “ham-less” because it filled him up with plenty of protein.

“He has ham, salami, twiggy sticks, devon,” she said.

“What makes it hard is not being allowed to send nuts (to school), then you can’t do a peanut butter sandwich or nutella: it gets a bit tricky.

“If I make him two ham and cheese sandwiches, it is going to fill him up with the protein for longer.”

Former Labor leader Bill Shorten came in strong to defend the schoolyard toastie, disagreeing that ham should be banned from children’s lunchboxes.

Bill Shorten came in strong supporting ham in our toasties.

“At least ham is not full of sugar. It is very difficult these days. I don’t know what the experts want us to put in the lunchbox. Just air?,” he said on Today show.

“I am for defending the toastie. The toastie is not going to go...when I am still in politics. We will still have ham in our sandwiches.”

NSW Transport Minister David Elliot pitched on the ham sandwich debate saying that it was another example of people trying to control individual choices.

“It’s a daily battle now. It’s a daily battle with people who just want to get into our lives and influence our opinions and tell us what we’re doing wrong and what we’re doing right. People have been eating ham for 5000 years,” he told 2GB.

“I’m not a big pork eater but my family are. I’m a big fan of the Cancer Council, but I’ve got to say, you’re not doing yourselves any favour when you’re trying to tell families exactly what they can and cannot eat in this society. My mates all eat ham sandwiches.”

Originally published as Ham sandwiches suit school lunches fine, Telegraph voters say