I remember when school dinners changed from 'get what you're given' to 'have what you like', I lived on mars bars and burgers & chips for far too long simply because I had the choice - since then I've struggled to change my life-style.
It's more convenient and cost effective for a school to turn out the same junk day in day out than to put some effort/imagination into the menu and that is why there is a lack of quality and choice in it. Schools have a responsibility to educate our children and are trustees to their physical, spiritual and emotional well being - only a lunatic would think otherwise. Do we want to raise a nation of rubbish-eating slobs?
Steve, UK

Give them a choice - carrots or sprouts.
Fred, UK

Without doubt making children 'eat all their sprouts' will just make them hate sprouts FOREVER - after all, who can't name something that they have hated since childhood? - but the idea of letting children eat what they want unconditionally is equally bonkers.
Children need a good diet, not just to set patterns for adult life, but because they are growing. It is ridiculous that western children, whilst not starving, can suffer from malnutrition...responsibility for this falls with parents first and schools second (take chips off the menus! Just for a bit!). However, considering adult eating habits, I'm not overly optimistic - aren't the British meant to be a stunningly unhealthy bunch?
Lucy Lu, UK

I believe it is the responsibility of both parents and schools (which are after all in loco-parentis) to provide a healthy diet for children.
Furthermore, I take issue with Mark Smith from Canada's view that mothers consider their jobs more important than their children. This is offensive and condescending (probably a result of his cocooned upbringing!). I work part time in a profession I thoroughly enjoy, but not as much as my children. I (and my husband) offer our two daughters a stable, loving and happy homelife with plenty of healthy meals (packed lunches for school) and snacks to boot. To suggest that working women like myself "refuse" to provide a healthy diet for our children is outrageous.
Kate, UK

More nanny stateism. Who is going to do the lunch box snooping? Teachers, more work with no extra pay. No doubt Labour will then want league tables of nutritional attainment.
G White, UK

If only more people knew how to prepare and cook simple/healthy meals we would all be a lot better off. If vegetables, and I believe strongly that it is fresh vegetables that children are mainly lacking in, are presented in a more appealing and simple way people/children would eat more of them.
Children's palates should not be bombarded with strong/sugary foods when they are young and this if done will help in ensuring they eat more fruit and vegetables. We have got it completely the wrong way round. Vegetables/fruit/whole foods 6 times a week with anything else you fancy on the other.
Train your children's palates like this from the day they are born and keep them informed about the importance of what they eat and they will be more likely to keep a healthy active lifestyle as they grow into adulthood.
Sam Kirk, England

I read this morning (15/12) that teachers are to be encouraged to check upon the contents of children's packed lunches to ensure that they are "nutritionally sound". When and where are the legions of control freaks and interfering busybodies going to stop?
Chris Klein, UK

It is not be possible to stop children buying junk food with their own money, but at least the meals served by schools, for which the schools are responsible, should be balanced and nutritious.
Miland Joshi, UK

What's wrong with beans? Whereas read meat and chips should perhaps be limited, baked beans are a healthy food. They contain protein, fibre and complex carbohydrates. I would advocate using brands which don't add sugar, but to ban them is to remove one of the healthier items on the menu. This is particularly true for vegetarian children, and I don't see how school meals could provide sufficient protein for vegan children if beans are limited to once a week.
Chris, UK

On average, today's parents seem less interested in the detail of their children's health than ever before. Everybody jumps up and down when the latest food scare comes along, but most parents feed their kids frozen, tinned or pre-prepared rubbish.
People may knock the bland meat and two veg, but it was a lot better for you than novelty shaped deep fried compressed turkey waste & curly fries. With the huge proliferation of video games and Thatcher's virtual enforced playing fields seal-off, sport, or any form of exercise is so infrequent amongst the young that schools are the last hope of trying to save this nation's health. If you think the NHS is bad now, just wait 30 years until this generation of walking coronary diseases need attention.
Graeme, UK

To suggest that school meals in days of yore were healthier than today is a very damning indictment of contemporary school meals. Do people not recall the days of Spam fritters, packet mash potato (which had been in that special machine at the back of the kitchens which puts lumps in everything), spotted dick, creamed rice with jam etc - usually prepared and served by a pupils' mum?
At least nowadays one of the caterers is usually a professional, and therefore has some elementary knowledge of food hygiene and nutritional science. There is greater tolerance of food allergies, you get a choice, and you are not forced to eat budget meals of low nutritional value.
Paul, UK

A little while ago a group of children were shown a series of SF programs where the heroes were children who saved planets by bringing them veg. The result? The test group started wanting to eat their carrots and sprouts!
Children respond to peer pressure. Are the adverts and programs on telly showing kids wolfing down meat and three veg? No, just crisps, sugary cereals and other junk food. No amount of effort from parents or teachers will make them want "healthy" food!
At home, my kids don't see much telly and eat what they are given - so they haven't grown unhealthy. And my wife and I both work....
Clive P Mitchell, UK

I would love to be able to allow my 7-year-old daughter the choice between packed lunches and a hot lunch in this cold weather but, unfortunately, like the rest of West Sussex I have no choice. Our local schools no longer provide hot lunches only packed lunches!
Karen Skinner, England

I just find it absolutely ridiculous that schools serve children with chips at lunchtime! I grew up in the Netherlands and have to admit that I do not know the school dinner environment that well. What is wrong with a sandwich and a bowl of yoghurt. After all they will also have their 'tea' (i.e. hot meal) at home later on ...
Nikki Kuys, United Kingdom

To all the people who do not like the government's suggestions I have one question. Do you want your child to be overweight and unhealthy?
A Smyth, UK

When I was at school, we kids were given a meal without any choice. Sometimes we were not even allowed to leave any which was the only choice we had! It may not have been what we wanted but it was good, nutritious food. Allowing kids to pick and choose means they will eat only junk food. This not only means poor nutrition but rotting teeth. Bring back the school dinners we had but perhaps with a greater choice of veg for the finicky kids.
Nobby, England

Oh , sure, let them eat cake! And candy, bacon grease, anti-freeze and pure white refined sugar while you're at it. Part of teaching life skills to children is teaching them healthy eating habits BY SETTING A GOOD EXAMPLE. How many children watch adults eat fat and sugar all day, only to be told by these same adults to eat their vegetables. If children are allowed full rein in their dietary choices, they will become greedy, sloppy anarchists of food and become adults who sit in front of the tube all night after sitting at a desk all day, all the while eating junk and drinking pop. Children need our guidance in matters of dietary choices. So hooray for the Brits for taking good care of their children by providing healthier food for school lunches.
Theresa Lynne Guild, USA

It is not a bad idea to allow children to learn and get used into real food at school because they sure get enough junk food at home because their parents generally have no idea about what a good nutrition is.
Mikko Toivonen, Finland

Luckily for me when I grew up in England, I was able to eat my lunch at home as I had a mother who thought that children were more important than a job. Now it seems that more so-called mothers prefer to work, so their offspring must be nurtured by the state. This is why I think it is very important that these kids should be fed healthy food at school, because they wont get it at home, after all, they are England's future, and England has a responsibility to look after them when the parents refuse.
Mark Smith, Canada

Of course children should be able to decide what they eat. George Orwell wasn't too far off the mark was he? Big Brother wants to dictate the menu in schools but what will be next? This can only serve to stifle individuality, which is a dangerous thing to do to the young.
Dave, England

It would be helpful if the Government started in the right place by making it law that every LEA must provide school dinners. There are a number of authorities that do not have a school meal service especially for primary children. Then the contract caters should have to provide a good balance diet not just sell what makes them a profit. The vast majority of parents are very aware of the diet their children need. Having said that I defy anyone even Tony Blair to force children to eat what they do not like. If he thinks he has the solution then he is wasting his time as Prime Minister he could be a millionaire. Given a good meal children will eat it so many choices are not always helpful, children need guidance.
Margaret Morrissey OBE, England

If children are left to their own devices they will in almost every case eat junk. In general my children are given a packed lunch which contains sandwiches, fruit, crisps, biscuit, yoghurt and fruit juice. It disheartens me that thier parents allow kids to eat junk food every day.
Marina, Scotland

I, for one, do not think that it is wise "that children should be left to their own devices as much as possible". While I have no children of my own, this statement seems to fly in the face of what little I do know about children. Young children, when left to their on devices, can stick forks into power outlets and lock themselves inside fridges and the like, just because they know no better. Older children will eat dreadful foods because they taste nice. I know I did. And I cannot believe that the 'Golden Arches' are so popular because of customers considering the nutritional worth of such foodstuffs. It seems sensible, therefore, to offer slightly less popular and yet more nutritional foods in schools as the trend towards pre-prepared and take out foods at home seems to continue apace. Few school children really enjoy maths and many dread PE and yet no one says they should have the choice of Neighbours and Nintendo instead as that is what they will prefer. Maths and PE might not be the nicest of things but will be good for kids in the long term. Why should this idea not be extended to their in-school diet?
Jason Bull, UK (But currently USA)

It doesn't make any sense to leave the decision of a balanced diet to a child. Healthy food is the best start for a healthy life. Children must be offered a balanced diet decide by specialist professionals.
Silvia, UK

In principle, ensuring that children have a balanced diet is a good idea. However, attempts to achieve this by restricting the foods available at school are unlikely to succeed without the full support of parents. This may be difficult as unhealthy eating habits often start in the home (unfortunately supported by the recent report that identifies the UK as the most obese nation in Europe). Yet again I suspect that schools are going to be asked to dabble in "social engineering" where they have little chance of success.
Spencer, Switzerland

I don't think it is a matter of 'dictating' to kids what they can or can't eat. The fact is that kids will neither know nor care what the long term effects of bad diet could be, and being kids will naturally go for the stuff that looks and tastes the best - ie the food with the most fat, salt, colouring, flavouring additives and so on. I don't blame them, I would too but I know better now. That being the case, I think we should also be educating their palates as well as their minds so I'm all in favour of encouraging them to eat the right kinds of foods by providing a good balanced diet in school.
Rob , United Kingdom

Seeing that children are predisposed to Colas, Burgers, Confectionary, "Juice Drinks" and other life-endangering snacks; it is only right that, for their own safety, they are instructed what to eat and when.
Bert, UK

Are you kidding, as a former child myself I can tell you given the choice it would be chips, chips and chips for lunch. In today's world of processed foods and fast foods schools should offer a balanced diet, this doesn't mean totaly banning chips, pizza etc, but limiting their availability and showing the youngsters of today that there are tasty alternatives to chips.
James Jeffrey, USA, but English

I feel very strongly that children should be left to their own devices as much as possible. I was forced to eat salad as a child and I hate it now, whilst sweets were always considered a treat - now it's these things that I instinctively turn to as comfort food. Children will eat what they fancy, and often it isn't chips with everything. If presented with other healthy, attractive and tasty options, I suspect most schools will find that the children are eating just as much of those as the chips and pizzas. Restricting the chips and "goodies" will just make kids look forward to them more and see them as a forbidden treat.
Sarah, UK

Show me a child who has a halfway decent understanding of nutrition and I'll agree that they should be free to eat what they want.
Andy, UK

It should not be left to children to decide what they should eat when they may not understand the complications of what bad food can do to them in later life. It is important to note that a diet of chips and curry sauce at home will also promote the need for a healthy diet at school for some children.
Rob, United Kingdom.