Pudding petition to be discussed by Aberdeenshire Councillors
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
North-east school pupils who have urged the council to rethink plans to axe the “best puddings in the world” from their school dinner menu will see their petition discussed by councillors this week.
Rhynie Primary School pupils William Dibb and Angus Beverly were spurred into action after Aberdeenshire Council removed custard, fruit yoghurt and ice cream from its primary school lunch menus, prompting a backlash from both parents and pupils.
The authority stated that new government legislation aimed at curbing children’s sugar intake over the school day has forced the move by driving up food costs.
But with other authorities in Scotland still serving custard or ice cream under the new rules, parents feared the council is using the legislation to inflict further cutbacks.
Aberdeenshire council has previously confirmed it had stopped serving grapes because “halving and quartering them became too labour intensive and there are cheaper alternatives”.
The two Rhynie Primary pupils gathered signatures from every pupil and member of staff at both Rhynie and Gartly schools, to a total of 847 names in their petition which has been accepted for submission to the members of the Education Committee on Thursday.
Their class wrote a letter to the council about the removal of the puddings from the dinner menu arguing they get a balanced lunch.
It stated: “The puddings that we love, cooked by Mrs Moir, are the best in the world and we don’t want to lose them.
"They are part of a balanced diet for us and we know that Mrs Moir reduces the sugar content as much as possible.
“We ask kindly that you revert back to having puddings as part of our choice for dinner.”
Parents have stressed the importance of ‘everything in moderation’ and the petition statement submitted by the children said: "The Scottish Government has issued healthy eating guidance.
"Aberdeenshire Council has taken a very strict interpretation of this guidance and removed all puddings, ice-cream and custard from primary school lunch menus - leaving a daily diet of fruit salad and a tiny dry muffin with no icing.
"This is a far more strict interpretation of the guidance than is being applied in other council areas of Scotland.
"We (the children) support healthy eating as part of a balanced diet with plenty of excercise.
"It is not clear why some arbitrary decisions on dietary advice has been taken.
"Cheese wheels (for example) continue to be part of our menu.
"These are pieces of cheese flavoured puff pastry with little of no nutritional value.
"White bread, chips and other items of processed food remain a large part of the school diet.
In April 8, the Scottish Government recommends no more than 15g of sugar per portion is served at school dinner times no more than three days a week.
A council spokesman confirmed its primary school menus had been “refreshed to be in line with nutritional requirements introduced by the Scottish Government” and that “desserts such as ice cream and custard have been removed”.
The new guidelines also dictate the amount of fruit and vegetables, red meat and oily fish that should be consumed during school time.
What are your thoughts on the issue? - take our poll here
