Free School Meals in Wales 'Need to be More Nutritional'

Free school meals in Wales need to be "cheaper, healthier, and better for the planet," said a well-known teacher. Prof. Kevin Morgan from Cardiff University said Wales is "far from" getting all its food from local sources for schools.


All kids in primary schools can get free meals in Wales. Families with older kids can ask for free meals too, but it depends on how much money they make. The Welsh government said they are working with councils to give "the best food" in schools.


Prof. Morgan, who wrote a book about food in schools, hospitals, and jails, said that school meals in Wales need to be better. "We are the first part of the UK to give free meals in all primary schools. Wales has been praised for this—but we need to make that food better," he said on Radio Wales' Sunday Supplement. "It is not good to give low-quality food to everyone."


Prof. Morgan also talked about how hard it is to get "local food." "If we tried to get only local food in schools tomorrow, we could not do it, mainly because our farming in Wales is not strong enough," he said.


"This is a big chance for us now, as we are growing the demand for food. You have to use buying power and budgets to build up that source," he added.


Prof. Morgan spoke nearly ten years after the Future Generations Act started, which makes public groups think about future needs. It started from the National Assembly for Wales in April 2015 and was called a big deal by the United Nations.


"Free school meals show how the Future Generations Act can work," said Prof. Morgan. He thinks this law is great, but it has issues because of "the gap between ideas and what gets done" in Wales.


"We are asking local groups and public bodies to meet this big task after almost twenty years of budget cuts, where they have lost much of their strength," he said. The Welsh government stated, "We want the best school food in the UK to give our kids a healthy start. Our move to give free meals to all primary school kids means each child gets a good meal." We are working with local groups to give the best food in schools. In the next year, we will update and better our healthy eating rules."