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Department of Education planning to introduce healthier school meals in NI

03 Feb 2020
The Department of Education (DE) is planning to introduce healthier school meals in Northern Ireland, it was reported by BBC News.

If the new changes go ahead primary school children in Northern Ireland will only receive chips once a week and the volume of red meat consumed by pupils will decrease. 

Another proposed change is there will ne no jam, sugar or honey available in schools. Each school dinner will also have to contain at least two vegetables and one portion of fruit. 

The Department of Education is a devolved Northern Irish government department, which is aiming to improve the school meals in through these new proposals. 

The Food for Life State of the Nation Report found that nine out of ten pre-school children consume too much sugar and as many as four in ten children leaving primary school are obese. 

According to BBC News some 100,000 pupils who live in Northern Ireland have access to free school meals. If the changes are approved they will be enforced in September 2020 for the new school year.