Veggie power plan for young city school pupils
School pupils in Sunderland are being challenged to ‘Eat Them to Defeat Them’ as part of a campaign to get children eating more vegetables.
The city’s school meals service is supporting the national campaign – developed by Veg Power, an alliance of national food industry specialists including Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.
The aim is to encourage primary school-aged children to eat healthier, balanced, and more sustainable diets including an increased number of vegetables.
The School Meals Service will run an ‘Eat Them to Defeat Them’ theme day on Wednesday 6 April, where participating schools will serve a plant-based menu.
A competition for the older pupils will challenge them to develop a dish containing at least two fruits or vegetables, with the opportunity for their dish to be included on school menus.
All of Sunderland’s schools have achieved the Bronze ‘Food for Life Served Here’ Award, which, provides assurance that the food being served is healthy, fresh, tasty, seasonal and sustainable.
Jon Ritchie, the council’s executive director of corporate services, said: “It is so important from a child health and wellbeing perspective to encourage as many children in Sunderland as possible to eat more fruit and vegetables.
"Developing school meal theme days linked to a highprofile national campaign such as Eat Them to Defeat Them is a great way of promoting this.
“We know that eating a more plant-based diet is not only healthy but also has an impact on reducing our carbon footprint and contributing to the aims of having a carbon-neutral city by 2040.”