{"id":11476,"date":"2025-02-06T16:21:56","date_gmt":"2025-02-06T16:21:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/?p=11476"},"modified":"2025-02-06T16:21:56","modified_gmt":"2025-02-06T16:21:56","slug":"nutritional-value-of-food-provided-through-hot-school-meals-scheme-must-be-assessed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/nutritional-value-of-food-provided-through-hot-school-meals-scheme-must-be-assessed\/","title":{"rendered":"Nutritional value of food provided through hot school meals scheme must be assessed"},"content":{"rendered":"

A review of the hot school meals scheme must be carried out to assess the nutritional standard of food being served to children, according to Social Democrats TD Jen Cummins.<\/p>\n

Deputy Cummins, who is the party\u2019s education spokesperson, said:<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile the planned expansion of this initiative is welcome, concerns have been expressed by some teachers and health experts about the quality of food being provided to schools.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot only have they questioned the nutritional content of meals, but they have also raised issues around food waste and single-use packaging.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Budget 2025, it was announced that the Department of Social Protection will extend the scheme to all remaining primary schools this year. This means hot meals will be available to 550,000 children in approximately 3,200 schools.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, there should be a review of how the programme is operating to ensure that children are not being served processed food, and that portion sizes are appropriate for their age.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere must also be a full analysis of food and packaging waste levels so steps can be taken to limit the scheme\u2019s environmental impact.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe hot school meals scheme has the potential to be a game-changer, particularly for children from poorer socio-economic backgrounds \u2013 but it is important that we get it right.\u201d<\/p>\n

February 6, 2025<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A review of the hot school meals scheme must be carried out to assess the nutritional standard of food being served to children, according to Social Democrats TD Jen Cummins. Deputy Cummins, who is the party\u2019s education spokesperson, said: \u201cWhile the planned expansion of this initiative is welcome, concerns have been expressed by some teachers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":11232,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[218,581,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","category-jen-cummins","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nNutritional value of food provided through hot school meals scheme must be assessed - Social Democrats<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/nutritional-value-of-food-provided-through-hot-school-meals-scheme-must-be-assessed\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"ga_IE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Nutritional value of food provided through hot school meals scheme must be assessed - Social Democrats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A review of the hot school meals scheme must be carried out to assess the nutritional standard of food being served to children, according to Social Democrats TD Jen Cummins. 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