WHEN new measures to tackle childhood obesity and improve healthy eating among school children were introduced by the government this month, Hampshire schools were already ahead of the game. They were no pupils screaming blue murder at the prospect of chips being replaced with chargrilled vegetables, and there was no mass coaxing of a junk-food generation to try something green. In fact, for the past three years, a healthy eating initiative dreamt up by Hampshire County Council catering aervice has been on a mission to get kids in the county healthy. HC3S was set up in 2002 with the aim of providing pupils with fresh and healthy food from local suppliers. During the last year, local suppliers have enjoyed quite a lucrative business as a result of HC3S's healthy eating pledge, and have even attracted big-name companies as customers. The diversity of local suppliers guarantees children are offered variety and the benefit of fresh produce, free from the additives so often used in processed food. Children are offered fresh, frozen, and tinned fruit and vegetables, home made breads and cakes, and haddock and cod rather than the cheaper "white fish". Processed food is extremely limited and will be phased out altogether over the following months. HC3S is the only school meals caterer to have been awarded the Hyperactive Children's Support Group award for excellence after they successfully removed 70 additives from their products. The HC3S also adheres to the Caroline Walker Trust nutritional guidelines on a voluntary basis. These guidelines dictate the calorific and nutritional content school meals should have over a week. As well as providing nutritionally balanced meals to 444 primary and special schools, and 29 secondary schools and colleges throughout the county, HC3S wants healthy eating to expand to all areas of a child's life. The "cook and eat" programme was developed by local district councils and primary care trusts with the aim of using more local produce, reducing childhood obesity in children, and to promote the health and well- being of school children in Hampshire. HC3S offer six weekly one-and-a-half hour cooking sessions for children and their parents, to help teach them practical cooking skills, healthy eating tips, food hygiene and safety, how to budget and reduce food bills and how to create meals for all the family. The programme is run as either an after- school club,or in school hours after lunch is finished. With the majority of Hampshire schools already having implemented the nutritional standards, there were only a couple of minor tweaks HC3S had to make in order to comply with the government guidelines. Primary school children will now be given two options of vegetables with their meal, or one of salad and vegetable. Secondary school pupils won't be able to buy refined carbohydrates, such as biscuits, cakes or ice cream covered in chocolate, packets of savoury snacks such as crisps, or deep-fried foods more than twice a week. Healthy options will be substituted.
