Best Practice

Ultra-processed foods and the Real Food Rebellion

School food Pupil wellbeing
What is on the menu in your canteen? Are you doing all you can to eliminate ultra-processed foods? George Winter finds out about a new education project seeking to inspire schools to take action
Image: Adobe Stock

The Labour government is to introduce a Bill – announced in the recent King’s Speech – which includes a requirement that all primary schools provide free breakfasts for all children. But free breakfasts are worthless if they are poor quality – and when it comes to poor quality, ultra-processed foods (UPFs) are persistent offenders.

 

What are UPFs?

UPFs are “industrial formulations of many ingredients, mostly of exclusive industrial use, that result from a sequence of industrial processes” (Rauber et al, 2019). There’s a positive association between UPF consumption and excessive dietary added (or free) sugar in-take – and excessive free sugar in-take “is associated with obesity, type 2 diabetes, dental caries and several other health outcomes”. Yet “UPFs account for 56.8% of total energy in-take and 64.7% of total free sugars in the UK diet” (Rauber et al, 2019).

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