Workshops are being organised for parents at schools to show them how to make packed lunches for their children. It comes after a study found that homemade dinners "rarely meet school food standards" and that they were mostly filled with unhealthy snacks.
Researchers at the University of Leeds discovered that a fifth of lunchboxes contained a vegetable, and about half some fruit. Only 1.6 per cent were deemed to be nutritious enough.
Sandwiches were generally made with white bread and often contained jam and Marmite, while ham was the most popular filling, The Times reports. Cooked school lunches need to meet a set of standards relating to how many vegetables they include and whether they contain protein and dairy, alongside restrictions on sugary snacks and drinks.
