The Education (Nutritional Standards and Requirements for School Food) (England) Regulations 2007

Regulation 3

SCHEDULE 1 Food Groups

Food Group	Foods included in group
A. Fruit and vegetables	Fruit and vegetables of all types, whether fresh, frozen or dried. Fruit canned in water or juice. Vegetables canned in water or juice. Fruit salad, fresh or canned in water or juice. Fruit juice and vegetable juice.
B. Meat, fish and other non dairy sources of protein	Meat and fish (in each case whether fresh, frozen, canned or dried), eggs, nuts, pulses and beans, other than green beans. Ham and bacon. Other non-dairy sources of protein. Any food containing meat together with food from groups A, D or E, but excluding any meat product falling within group C.
C. Meat products (sub-divided as shown)	Any meat product falling within Schedule 2 to the Meat Products Regulations, and any other shaped or coated meat product. C1: Burger, hamburger, chopped meat, corned meat. C2: Sausage, sausage meat, link, chipolata, luncheon meat. C3: Individual meat pie, meat pudding, Melton Mowbray pie, game pie, Scottish (or Scotch) pie, pasty or pastie, bridie, sausage roll. C4: Any other shaped or coated meat product.
D. Starchy foods	All types of bread, pasta, noodles, rice, potatoes, sweet potatoes, yams, millet and cornmeal.
E. Milk and dairy foods	Milk (skimmed, semi-skimmed or lactose-reduced), cheese, yoghurt (including frozen), fromage frais and custard; but not butter or cream.
F. Drinks (sub-divided as shown)	F1: Plain drinks: Plain water (still or carbonated). Milk (skimmed, semi-skimmed or lactose-reduced). Fruit juice or vegetable juice. Plain soya, rice or oat drinks enriched with calcium. Plain fermented milk drinks. F2: Combination drinks: Combinations of fruit juice or vegetable juice with— (i) plain water, in which case the fruit juice or vegetable juice must be at least 50% by volume and may contain vitamins and minerals; (ii) milk (skimmed, semi-skimmed or lactose-reduced) or plain fermented milk drinks (in each case with or without plain water) in which case the milk or fermented milk drink must be at least 50% by volume and may contain vitamins, minerals and less than 5% added sugars or honey; (iii) plain soya, rice or oat drink (in each case with or without plain water) in which case the soya, rice or oat drink must be at least 50% by volume and may contain vitamins, minerals and less than 5% added sugars or honey. Combinations of milk (skimmed, semi-skimmed or lactose-reduced), plain fermented milk drinks or plain soya, rice or oat drinks (in each case with or without plain water) with cocoa, in which case the milk, fermented milk drink, soya, rice or oat drink must be at least 50% by volume and may contain vitamins, minerals and less than 5% added sugars or honey. Flavoured milk (skimmed, semi-skimmed or lactose-reduced) containing not less than 90% milk by volume and which may contain vitamins, minerals and less than 5% added sugars or honey. Tea, coffee. Hot chocolate containing no more than 20 calories per 100 millilitres.

Regulations 5 and 6

SCHEDULE 2 School lunch requirements

1.  Food included in the groups set out in Schedule 1 must be provided as part of a school lunch in accordance with the following requirements of this Schedule.

2.—(1) Not less than two portions each day must be provided of food from group A, at least one of which must be salad, vegetables or vegetable juice and at least one of which must be fruit, fruit salad or fruit juice.

(2) A fruit based dessert (with a content of at least 50% fruit measured by the weight of the raw ingredients) must be provided at least twice each week in primary schools.

3.—(1) A portion of food from group B must be provided every day except a day when a food from group C is provided as permitted by paragraph 4.

(2) Red meat must be provided at least twice each week in primary schools, and at least three times each week in secondary schools; except that a day when a food from group C which contains red meat is provided may count towards this total.

(3) Fish must be provided at least once each week in primary schools and at least twice each week in secondary schools.

(4) Fish required to be provided by sub-paragraph (3) must at least once every three weeks be oily fish.

(5) In primary schools a dairy source of protein may be provided in place of a food from group B.

4.—(1) A portion of food from each of the subdivisions in group C may not be provided more often than once every two weeks.

(2) Any shaped product comprising a mixture of meat and other ingredients which is not included in the reserved descriptions specified in Schedule 2 to the Meat Products Regulations may only be provided if it complies with the meat content requirements for “Burger” in that Schedule.

(3) No meat product shall be provided if it contains any carcase part listed in regulation 6(2) of the Meat Products Regulations, subject to the exception in regulation 6(3) of those Regulations.

(4) No economy burgers as defined in Schedule 2 to the Meat Products Regulations shall be provided.

5.—(1) A type of bread with no added fat or oil and another food from group D must be provided every day.

(2) A food in group D cooked in fat or oil must not be provided on more than three days in a week.

(3) On each day when a food in group D cooked in fat or oil is provided, a food from that group (other than bread) not so cooked must also be provided.

6.  A portion of food from group E must be provided every day.

7.  No drinks other than those included in group F may be provided, except that whole milk may be provided for pupils up to the end of the school year in which they attain the age of five.

8.  No more than two portions each week may consist of food which has been deep-fried in the cooking or manufacturing process.

9.  No confectionery or snacks may be provided except snacks which consist of —

(a) nuts, seeds, fruit or vegetables with no added salt, sugar, honey or fat (except that dried fruit may contain no more than 0.5% vegetable oil as a glazing agent); or

(b) savoury crackers or bread sticks which are served with food from group A or group E.

10.  Cakes or biscuits must not contain any confectionery.

11.—(1) No salt shall be available to add to food after the cooking process is complete.

(2) Other condiments may be available to pupils only in individual sachets or in individual portions of no more than 10 grams or one teaspoonful.

Regulations 5 and 6

SCHEDULE 3 Nutritional standards and requirements applying to school lunches in maintained schools from 1st September 2008 (primary schools) and 1st September 2009 (secondary schools, special schools and pupil referral units)

PART 1 Food requirements

1.  Not less than two portions each day must be provided of food from group A, at least one of which must be salad, vegetables or vegetable juice and at least one of which must be fruit, fruit salad or fruit juice.

2.  Oily fish must be provided at least once every three weeks.

3.—(1) A portion of food from each of the subdivisions in group C may not be provided more often than once every two weeks.

(2) Any shaped product comprising a mixture of meat and other ingredients which is not included in the reserved descriptions specified in Schedule 2 to the Meat Products Regulations may only be provided if it complies with the meat content requirements for “Burger” in that Schedule.

(3) No meat product shall be provided if it contains any carcase part listed in regulation 6(2) of the Meat Products Regulations, subject to the exception in regulation 6(3) of those Regulations.

(4) No economy burgers as defined in Schedule 2 to the Meat Products Regulations shall be provided.

4.  A food in group D cooked in fat or oil must not be provided on more than three days in a week.

5.  A type of bread with no added fat or oil must be provided every day.

6.  No drinks other than those included in group F may be provided, except that whole milk may be provided for pupils up to the end of the school year in which they attain the age of five.

7.  No more than two portions in each week may consist of food which has been deep-fried in the cooking or manufacturing process.

8.  No confectionery or snacks may be provided except snacks which consist of –

(a) nuts, seeds, fruit or vegetables with no added salt, sugar, honey or fat (except that dried fruit may contain no more than 0.5% vegetable oil as a glazing agent); or

(b) savoury crackers or bread sticks which are served with food from group A or group E.

9.  Cakes and biscuits must not contain any confectionery.

10.—(1) No salt shall be available to add to food after the cooking process is complete.

(2) Other condiments may be available to pupils only in individual sachets or individual portions of no more than 10 grams or one teaspoonful.

PART 2 Nutritional standards

11.  In this Part—

“average school lunch” has the meaning given by paragraph 13 below;

“menu cycle” means a plan of menus for school lunches lasting for no less than one and no more than four consecutive weeks during a term;

“non-milk extrinsic sugars” means any sugar which is not contained within cell walls, except lactose in milk and milk products;

“nutrient” means any substance listed in the table in paragraph 14 below.

12.  There shall be excluded from the calculations required by this Schedule any bread provided by virtue of paragraph 5 of part 1 of this Schedule.

13.  The average school lunch for a school must be calculated by totalling the amounts of energy and nutrients provided by all school lunches in a menu cycle, and then dividing that total by the estimated number of school lunches served to individual pupils during that menu cycle.

14.  The average school lunch must provide –

(a) an amount of energy which shall be either the figure shown in the table below or within 5% of that figure;

(b) no more than the amounts of fat, saturated fat, non-milk extrinsic sugars and sodium shown in the table below; and

(c) at least the amounts of other nutrients shown in the table below.

Energy or Nutrient and amount of measurement	Maximum or minimum value	Primary Schools	Secondary Schools
Energy in kilojoules (kilocalories)	-	2215 (530)	2700 (646)
Fat (grams)	Max	20.6	25.1
Saturated fat (grams)	Max	6.5	7.9
Non-milk extrinsic sugars (grams)	Max	15.5	18.9
Sodium (milligrams)	Max	499	714
Total carbohydrate (grams)	Min	70.6	86.1
Fibre (grams)	Min	4.2	5.2
Protein (grams)	Min	7.5	13.3
Iron (milligrams)	Min	3	5.2
Zinc (milligrams)	Min	2.5	3.3
Calcium (milligrams)	Min	193	350
Vitamin A (micrograms)	Min	175	245
Vitamin C (milligrams)	Min	10.5	14
Folate (micrograms)	Min	53	70

Regulations 7 and 8

SCHEDULE 4 Requirements for food provided otherwise than as part of a school lunch.

1.  Foods from group A must be available in any place on the school premises where food is provided.

2.  A portion of food in group C may only be provided if a portion permitted under paragraph 4(1) of Schedule 2 or paragraph 3(1) of Schedule 3 is not provided.

3.  A portion of food from group D which is cooked in fat or oil may only be provided if a portion permitted under paragraph 5(2) of Schedule 2 or paragraph 4 of Schedule 3 is not provided.

4.  No drinks other than those included in group F may be provided, except that whole milk may be provided for pupils up to the end of the school year in which they attain the age of five.

5.  A portion of food which has been deep-fried in the cooking or manufacturing process may only be provided if a portion permitted under paragraph 8 of Schedule 2 or paragraph 7 of Schedule 3 is not provided.

6.  No confectionery or snacks shall be provided except snacks which consist of nuts, seeds, fruit or vegetables with no added salt, sugar, honey or fat (except that dried fruit may contain no more than 0.5% vegetable oil as a glazing agent).

7.  No cakes or biscuits shall be provided.

8.—(1) No salt shall be available to add to food after the cooking process is complete.

(2) Other condiments may be available to pupils only in individual sachets or in individual portions of no more than 10 grams or one teaspoonful.

Regulation 12

SCHEDULE 5 Requirements for school lunches provided at maintained nursery schools and nursery units within primary schools.

Each day food from each of the categories (i), (ii), (iii) and (iv) below must be provided as part of the school lunch.

Food Category	Foods included in category
(i) Fruit and vegetables.	Fruit and vegetables in all forms (whether fresh, frozen, canned, dried or in the form of juice).
(ii) Starchy foods	Bread, chapatis, pasta, noodles, rice, potatoes, sweet potatoes, yams, millet and cornmeal.
(iii) Meat, fish and other non dairy sources of protein	Meat and fish in all forms (whether fresh, frozen, canned or dried) including meat or fish products, eggs, nuts, pulses and beans, other than green beans.
(iv) Milk and dairy foods	Milk, cheese, yoghurt (including frozen yoghurt and drinking yoghurt), fromage frais, milkshakes and custard, but not butter or cream.