Nearly half of UK parents support more plant-based school meals, with strong backing for teaching healthy food choices.
A survey conducted by YouGov on behalf of food awareness organisation ProVeg has found that 46.7% of UK parents of children aged 3 to 18 support increasing the amount of plant-based food served in schools.
Furthermore, 85% of parents agree that children should learn more about healthy food choices in school. 37% believe that school food would be healthier if more plant-based meals were served, though 24% disagree.
Interestingly, parents of younger children are the most likely to believe that serving more plant-based food would make meals healthier. 42% of those with children aged 4 and under are in agreement, compared to around 40% for the 5-11 age group and about 29% for the 17-18 age group. Parents in the London area are also significantly more likely to agree at 50%.
A previous study conducted by the Vegan Society in 2022 found that 30% of parents and guardians completely supported introducing more vegan meals in schools, while 39% somewhat supported it.
Championing plant-rich recipes
The news comes as ProVeg’s flagship School Plates programme celebrates switching over ten million school meals to plant-based or meat-free. Launched in 2018, the initiative works with more than 100 school catering partners and benefits over 12,000 schools.
ProVeg cites UK government figures which show that most children eat significantly less than the recommended five portions of fruit and vegetables per day, and do not consume enough fibre. The organisation says school meals present huge opportunities to provide children with healthy and sustainable food options.
“It’s great to see support for plant-based options on school menus is strong with parents,” said Sophia Millar, co-director at ProVeg UK. “ProVeg has already swapped 10 million meals to date – a fantastic milestone – and we’ll continue to keep championing plant-rich recipes, and training school caterers to cook with planet-friendly and nutritious ingredients.”
Original source: https://vegconomist.com
