Three in four secondary schools are serving food that’s banned under school food standards. That is the finding of Bite Back’s analysis of the almost 400 publicly accessible secondary school menus – equal to around 10% of schools. Some 76% contained a violation, with unhealthy options offered at breakfast, break and lunch times. Crisps and branded confectionery are meant to be banned outright – yet they continue to appear on menus. 

The government’s response – due to be finalised this month following a consultation in the spring – looks sensible enough on paper. The new proposals extend the existing ban to unhealthy ‘grab and go’ options, such as sausage rolls, pizza and deep-fried food; require every school to appoint a lead governor for food; and force schools to publish their food policy and menus online. That adds much-needed transparency.

But enforcement is where these new proposals still fall down. There is currently no formal national mechanism to penalise a school if it breaches the food standards.

That is not to say there aren’t real reasons driving non-compliance. There is huge commercial pressure on large catering companies operating across schools. Procurement and margin pressures favour packaged, long-shelf-life, grab-and-go food precisely because it is cheap to supply and easy to eat. Is it, then, any wonder that “we’ll just serve non-compliant food because that’s what kids will eat” has become the default?

Publishing the menus will make failures visible. But visibility is not the same as accountability. That requires something more: public reporting, independent checks and consequences when standards aren’t met. Some are even calling for environmental health officers already visiting schools to build in a menu audit mechanism.

Given three in four schools are already breaching the rules, simply increasing transparency and assuming that will fix the problem feels optimistic at best. Publishing the menus shows us what is wrong, but it doesn’t solve the underlying problems. And until we have something that does, the system will continue failing the children it is meant to protect.

My picks this week:

  1. A “supersized” El Niño is set to pile the pressure on global food supplies, and a stinging new report from the National Audit Office warns Defra is not doing enough to safeguard food security. The government department has done “too little” to prepare for the growing challenges posed by cyberattacks, geopolitical turmoil, climate change and potential national power outages and could therefore be blindsided by the worsening geopolitical situation.
  2. With all eyes on the first budget of the Andy Burnham government, pressure is growing on ministers to sort out the “chaos” of the packaging tax system. But is there a solution to soaring costs, and can different sectors agree a way forward? 
  3. There are growing concerns over GLP-1 marketing to new mums, with online ‘mumfluencers’ dropping heavy hints about “medically supported weight loss” – and even providing discount codes for sites such as MedExpress. Given that advertising prescription-only medicines like Mounjaro and Wegovy to the public is against the law, we investigate the grey area of talking to people about prescription medicines without actually talking about them. 
  4. Scottish meat sector bosses will not be “intimidated” by Food Standards Scotland’s threat to pursue legal action to resolve a dispute over the organisation’s “massive” increase in meat inspection charges. FSS announced its 2026/27 rates in March, giving businesses just three weeks’ notice of an 8.6% rise in official veterinarian charges and a 10.4% surge in meat hygiene inspector rates – and processors are digging in for a fight. 
  5. Itsu Grocery’s runaway growth has put it on course to overtake its sister restaurant chain in terms of turnover by 2027, as its multi-aisle offering continues to draw consumers. It smashed 2024’s growth of 20% with a whopping 33% jump in sales to £76m in 2025 – maybe the restaurant business should be worried. 
  6. Mother Root is flying. Its flagship Ginger variant is the bestselling low & no spirits product by value in the off-trade, ahead of Diageo-owned duo Gordon’s 0.0 and Tanqueray 0.0. We spoke to founder Bethan Higson about pushing flavour over function and why her botanical aperitif stands out. 
  7. BrewDog has unveiled details of a new limited-edition craft beer series called Liquid Visions that it claims will bring “big flavour, bold design and fresh excitement back to the beer aisle”. However, the first launches from Liquid Visions look suspiciously like more of the same hoppy haze that has come to dominate craft supermarket selections, rather than anything especially innovative.  
  8. Tesco is betting AI will soon do your shopping for you – and has hired its first group agentic director to make sure it’s the one pushing the trolley. The supermarket group has appointed Lucy Cooper as its group customer experience & agentic director, who joins from THG Ingenuity.  

Thanks for reading. We’re always keen to hear your thoughts, so please do email with any questions, comments or feedback on sarah.vizard@thegrocer.co.uk.

Topics