Dramatic Improvement Seen in School Dinners Already

In a week when the health of the nation has been at the forefront of election campaigning, with Mr Blair reinforcing his pledge to spend an additional £280million to improve school dinners, market research company, ACNielsen can reveal that significant changes in the way our children are being fed are already beginning to take effect.

Information from ACNielsen’s Catering Wholesale Service, which captures sales into the canteens operated by the largest contract caterers such as Compass and Sodexho, demonstrates that some dramatic changes are already taking place.

Sales of foods such as Frozen Chips, Frozen Turkey, Chocolate and Crisps & Snacks to Education have all shown significant declines in the year to 12th March versus the same period last year. (see Table 1) Meanwhile, sales of healthier foods and drinks such as water, untreated fresh poultry, natural fresh fish and drinking yogurt have all shown sales increases YoY. (See Table 2)

Eleni Nicholas, Managing Director of ACNielsen UK commented that, “Jamie Oliver’s petition was delivered to Downing Street on the 30th March so this data precedes this, but following a year of constant media interest in health and obesity in children it seems that the sector has already began to re-evaluate what is being served to our children.”

She continued, “The level of declines themselves are telling but what is more significant is the proportion of the top 15 declining foodstuffs which are considered ‘unhealthy’. The figures are evidence of a clear move away from this type of food.”

The 271,000 strong petition's demands include qualifications for dinner ladies, increasing the nutritional content of school meals, more money to be spent on meals for children, making nutritional health a part of the national curriculum, and more time for catering staff to prepare meals.

If Labour secures a 3rd term and plans unveiled by Education Secretary Ruth Kelly are realised ACNielsen would expect trends to continue with further declines in these types of foods and a surge of growth in the more nutritionally beneficial foods.

“ACNielsen will certainly be keeping an eye on these markets and monitoring movements and long term trends in both the education sector and the general consumer grocery marketplace over the coming years.” Added Ms Nicholas.

Table 1.
Fastest Declining Product Categories based on Value Change (£000’s) of sales into
Education Outlets Delivered into by Catering Wholesalers; YTD Ending 12.03.05 Vs Previous Year

Table 2.
Growth in ‘Healthy’ categories based on Value Change (£000’s) of sales into
Education Outlets Delivered into by Catering Wholesalers; YTD Ending 12.03.05 Vs Previous Year

ACNielsen Catering Wholesale Service Education market breakdown cover sales to Education foodservice as covered by the following leading national wholesalers: 3663, Brakes, DBC, Peter’s Foodservice & Woodwards.

About ACNielsen
ACNielsen is the world’s largest Marketing Information company and is owned by VNU.VNU is a global information and media company with leading market positions and recognized brands in marketing information (ACNielsen), media measurement and information (Nielsen Media Research) and business information (Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, Computing, Intermediair).  VNU is active in more than 100 countries, with headquarters in Haarlem, the Netherlands and New York, USA. The company employs 38,000 people.  Total revenues amounted to EUR 3.8 billion in 2004. VNU is listed on the Euronext Amsterdam (ASE: VNU) stock exchange.