UK schools implement Sugarwise certification scheme to slash high sugar consumption

24 Jun 2019 --- British children are consuming high levels of sugar at school due to a lack of limits being in place, obesity-prevention charity Sugarwise notes. Its certification scheme that curbs the over-consumption of sugar launches today in over 500 schools who have limited the sugar content in their foods to become certified Sugarwise ahead of the national scheme’s official launch. Schools in Ireland, Germany and Belgium, who also have no sugar limits for children, will also jump aboard the scheme later this year.

The School Food Standards, which all British Schools must adhere to, places no limit on the amount of sugar children consume, even on the “free sugars” that are linked to obesity, tooth decay and Type 2 diabetes, notes the association. With breakfast and after-school clubs routinely providing pancakes, syrups, croissants, jam and hot chocolate and puddings daily after lunches, as well as other snacks, some children may consume as much as up to 30 times the recommended maximum across a whole school day, or up to ten times the daily recommended limit across a typical school day.

Some children may consume as much as up to 30 times the recommended maximum across a whole school day, notes the charity.Sugar is a one of the main contributors to the rise of obesity rates among children and calls to limit the levels of sugar, as well as sugar and fat, reaching children are intensifying. Earlier this month, a coalition of health groups called on the UK government to ban popular cartoon characters from being used on packaging to market unhealthy products to children. Action on Sugar, Action on Salt and Children’s Food Campaign also urge government to mandate “traffic light” nutrition labeling after finding half of more than 500 food and drink products which use cartoon animations on-pack are high in fat, saturated fat, sugar and/or salt. 

“Obesity levels are soaring and the costs of inaction will be devastating. Sugarwise certification of schools is a positive and pragmatic means of addressing this challenge. By getting certified, schools and caterers demonstrate their commitment to doing their part in reducing sugar intake in children and show they are serious about following public health guidelines,” says Dr. Giles Yeo, of the University of Cambridge.

How will the scheme work?
Today, Sugarwise launches its scheme to certify schools with support from MPs, MEPs, nutritionists and Cambridge University Scientists.

For schools to become Sugarwise certified, they must submit their menus and recipes to Sugarwise and these must be within public health guidelines on sugar.

“We use the submitted recipes to calculate the free sugars content of the meals (as an estimate) and determine whether or not they comply with the standards,” Suzanna Abraham, Nutrition Scientist at Sugarwise, tells NutritionInsight.

“The School Food Standards replaced the previous nutrient-based ones, which mean that the nutritional content does not have to meet specific limits (e.g., for sugar, fat, salt); rather it is based on various food groups,” she notes.

The association shares an “inspiration” meal plan for schools to use. Meal examples include jacket potato with a choice of toppings, cauliflower curry and rice, salmon fish cakes and bean and beetroot burgers.

Nourish Contract Catering, the first catering company to adopt the certification, note that they are conscious of the rising obesity levels in children and promote the importance of a balanced diet to one’s overall health. They aim, through wholesome lunchtime meals, to guarantee the nutrients and vitamins a child needs, but they felt that more could be done on sugar reduction.A meal plan supplied by Sugarwise to serve as an inspiration for certified schools.

Annette Ryan-Murphy, Managing Director of Nourish says: “Nourish Contract Catering is proud to be the first to be awarded the Sugarwise mark for our Primary School menus. This means our menus are the first to provide options low in ‘free sugars’ – the sugars that need to be limited in the diet as they are contributors to childhood obesity and tooth decay. We have one Sugarwise day a week with no free sugars in any of our dishes.” 

The Sugarwise catering guidelines reference the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendation that no more than 5 percent of calories should come from free sugars, which has aligned by Public Health England (PHE) with WHO and is the guideline issued by most public health authorities, Rend Platings, CEO of Sugarwise, tells NutritionInsight.

Moving forward, national and international certification schemes, such as Sugarwise, can serve to boost healthy reformation efforts. Governmental taxes can also spur reformulation efforts, such as the sugar tax on beverages in the UK, which followed its food and beverage sugar-reduction plan from 2016. The latter challenged all sectors of the food industry – including retailers, manufacturers, restaurants, cafés and pub chains – to reduce by 20 percent the level of sugar in food formulations by 2020. Industry was also challenged to achieve a 5 percent reduction in the first year of the program which was not successful. 

According to a recent report, however, the imminent Brexit may create an opportunity to act further on sugar reduction. The report claims that the key to achieving a two-thirds cut in consumption is by producing less sugar and making it more expensive. In a direct challenge to industry, it states that reductions on this scale will not be achieved by edicts to reduce the amount people eat, but by new agriculture and trade policies that cut sugar supply as well as demand, including decreasing UK-grown sugar as well as slashing import volumes. 

By Laxmi Haigh