Banning Meat in Schools

Indulge me in a quick trip down memory lane. Let’s go back to school. Ignore the sepia infused memories of playing Tag or Cops and Robbers in the Playground. Think of the canteen specifically.

If you are reading this in the UK, I will hazard a guess that these old favourites will ring a bell:

Sausage Flan

Toad in the Hole

Chicken Smilers

Nice at the time, but looking back, awful grub. I remain unsure as to what Toad In The Hole is, to be honest, but hopefully, no tadpoles were harmed in the making.

Let’s look at the Economics of school meals.

A few basic tenets:

1. Animal Lives. The cattle and poultry that have had relaxing, well-nourished lives followed by a (relatively) humane slaughter — they are going to Gordon Ramsay’s best kitchen. The distressed, malnourished and brutally slaughtered animals are reserved solely for the lowest bidder — schools.
2. Cut. Take a beef cow. There are 27 anatomical areas of a cow that are fit for human consumption on a large scale. The best of these (think sirloin, rib-eye etc) are taken from the loin or back of the bovine — again, these are going to the top-end restaurants. Abattoirs and meat retailers pursue a zero-waste policy though; so those cuts of beef that aren’t valuable (tail, hooves etc) they will go to the bidder at the back of the queue, which is again state education.
3. Processing. So, the school has procured its allocation of meat. It has to make it last though and make sure everyone eats it. So, then we have processing. To maximise its utility, it is processed to appeal to the salty sense of taste that we all know and love. Preservatives are added to elongate its shelf life. Other additives are included to nullify the potentially toxic effects of an ultra-processed pig carcass.

Having looked at basic economics of school meals, it is already clear that the meat served to our kids are ultra-processed, off-cuts of highly distressed animals.

Remember that Sausage and Bean Flan? I dread to think of its journey from farm to fork.

Having grasped these economic realities, we must understand that they are exactly that — economic realities guided by free-market principles. The worst meat goes to the lowest bidder.

Not any different to buying a car. Skint? You’re in the Reliant Robin while Lord Sugar drives past in his Rolls Royce.

Why do we bother?

Free school meals are an incredibly valuable thing. They provide kids with vital nutrients to sustain them in school hours and fuel their cognitive and physical development.

For some kids, the school meal is the only meal they will have all day. They rely on it for their daily nutrients.

The price has to stay the same. Increasing the budget would be a wonderful thing, but it is not feasible and not the answer.

Meat is expensive. And it entirely right that it is, an animal has died to feed us.

Vegetables are cheaper, though. For the same price that our canteens serve up Grade F meat for, they could be acquiring fresh organic vegetables.

What impact could this have?

1. Healthier, happier, stronger and smarter kids. No kid is born with a desire to consume animal flesh. The micronutrient profile of a sausage roll is painfully poor. Banning meat and feeding them fresh fruit and vegetables, for the same price, would have an immeasurable effect upon the well-being of our kids.
2. Long term economic benefit. The next generation of kids entering the workforce could be possessed with increasingly agile minds, acquired through a better and more immersive learning experience. You know how you feel drowsy after a plate of burger and chips? Our kids experience that every day in the afternoon. Provide them with good fuel and watch them flourish.
3. Environmental Impact. In our formative years, dietary experiences are powerful. Developing a taste for processed meat as our neurological systems develop, will mean a predilection for processed meat as we progress into adult years. We can curb this demand by altering the supply. Diminished demand for meat means less cultivation and slaughter of animals, fewer methane emissions, a lower carbon footprint associated with transport logistics and, ultimately, a healthier planet.
4. Respecting the animal. As a society, we should learn to respect other species more. It is not fair to take their suffering for granted. Curbing the supply of meat in schools should allow our kids to develop more refined culinary palates and teaching respect for the lives of animals.

I went to see a few abattoirs in Australia once. For business, and certainly no pleasure. Hand on heart it was an awful experience, what cruelty. I keep that experience in the back of my mind every time I reach for a packet of sausages or order that chicken burger.

Returning to my school years. We were a big rugby playing school. We had pretty impressive facilities, excellent coaches and basically all that was required to become a dominant force in Schools Rugby.

Looking back, I think we were missing one key ingredient. Nutrition. You can train as hard as you like at school, but if you are still eating 4 sausage rolls and a plate of chips in the school canteen, you are not going to develop elite athletes or scholars.

Nourish the school kids with fresh, local fruit and vegetables…and you just might.