The British Nutrition Foundation has published a landmark white paper warning that food education remains a missing ingredient in UK policy, calling on government, educators and industry to act as curriculum reform gathers pace.
The British Nutrition Foundation has called for stronger action to ensure food education is recognised as a vital part of efforts to improve children’s health, develop essential life skills and support a more sustainable future.
A new white paper, Food education: The missing ingredient in a healthier, more sustainable future, argues that food education should play a greater role in education, public health and sustainability policy as the UK considers curriculum reform.
“Food can shape children’s health, learning, life chances and their understanding of the world around them. Yet, despite its importance, food education is often overlooked in wider discussions about education, public health and sustainability.”
Elaine Hindal, Chief Executive, the British Nutrition Foundation
Tackling gaps in food education
Opportunities to learn about food vary significantly between schools across the UK. Funding, curriculum time, staff expertise and individual school priorities can all influence what pupils receive, while the cost of ingredients and equipment and pressures on teacher recruitment are making practical food education harder to deliver.
At the same time, children are growing up in an environment shaped by childhood overweight and obesity, food insecurity and an increasingly complex online information landscape.
For Frances Meek, Education Services Manager at the British Nutrition Foundation and a former food teacher, the subject encompasses far more than cooking.
“Food education goes far beyond learning how to cook. It helps children understand nutrition, food safety, sustainability, where food comes from and the many career opportunities available across the food system,” she said. As a former food teacher, I’ve seen first-hand the impact that developing food knowledge, skills and confidence can have on young people, both in the classroom and beyond.”
Eight recommendations for action
The foundation is calling for policymakers, educators and industry to:
- Recognise and integrate food education within prevention policy.
- Fund the ingredients and equipment schools need.
- Protect food education from further marginalisation.
- Strengthen monitoring, inspection and accountability for food education.
- Embed food education within school food and whole-school health policy.
- Treat food literacy with equal importance to digital, media and financial literacy.
- Link food education to sustainability and food systems policy.
- Connect food education with the workforce, skills and economic growth.
Supporting teachers
Greater investment in food education could give pupils practical knowledge that extends beyond the classroom, from making informed food choices to understanding sustainability and the wider food system.
“By strengthening food education and supporting those who deliver it, we can help ensure that young people leave school with food knowledge and skills that will benefit them throughout their lives,” Meek said.
The foundation has delivered food education through Food – a fact of life since 1991. Its flagship UK education programme provides free, curriculum-aligned resources on healthy eating, cooking and where food comes from for children and young people aged three to 18, alongside professional development for teachers.
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