In the press

Our vital work is regularly featured in the media. Please see below for some of our recent coverage.

If you'd like to contact the School Food Matters media team, please email press@schoolfoodmatters.org. Our Founder/CEO, Stephanie Slater, will be happy to provide a comment.

BBC News - School food is a “nutritional safety net”, but not enough families have access to free school meals

BBC London News - Young Marketeers selling fruit and veg at Borough Market

BBC News - SFM responding to warnings school food quality could fall

LBC - "We need to expand free school meals eligibility"

C5 News - SFM responds to National Food Strategy white paper

BBC News - Government's Food Strategy falls short

The Grocer - Is childhood obesity at a tipping point? 17 November 2023

New Food Magazine - Stepping up to the plate: Antonia Braun 16 November

New Statesman - Labour must expand free school meals 6 October 2023

iNews - Government scraps £5m plan to fund school cooking ‘revolution’ 24 September 2023

London Live - Should free school meals be extended to secondary students? 12 September 2023

Financial Times - The numbers behind London’s free school lunch scheme 4 September 2023

The Independent - Calls for government to protect children’s free school meals in face of ‘Aero’ concrete closures 1 September 2023

Food Matters Live - Why food education matters more now than ever before 17 May 2023

The Independent - School meals ‘should be free for all just like desks and chairs’ 9 March 2023

The Independent - Children missing out on fruit and vegetables as food shortage hits school dinners 5 March 2023

France 24 and Barron's England families struggle to afford school lunch as inflation bites 16 December 2022

Food Matters Live - National School Meals Week – fighting to improve our childrens’ food 11 November 2022

Evening Standard - Poor diets ‘are leaving children at risk of fatal diseases’ 19 October 2022

Evening Standard - Calls grow to give free school meals to all children in poverty 12 October 2022

The Independent - School meals industry ‘on its knees’ faced with shortages and rising costs 10 October 2022

The Organic Gardening Podcast - Rampant squashes, late colour and bumper chilli harvests; autumn has definitely arrived 01 October 2022

Food Matters Live - Inside the factory – the school kids getting a taste of the food industry 7 September 2022

Chronicle Live - Newcastle primary school children set up stalls of fruit and vegetables at Grainger Market 18 July 2022

The Express - Fears parents won't be able to feed children as economic crisis hikes staple food prices 17 July 2022

Stroud Times - Young Marketeers provide boost for The Long Table 15 July 2022

BBC Radio Gloucestershire - Young Marketeers Stroud 15 July 2022

LBC, Capital, Heart and Smooth Radio - Young Marketeers Newcastle 14 July 2022

BBC Radio Merseyside - Young Marketeers Liverpool 12 July 2022

The Grocer - Asda fighting ‘school holiday hunger’ by feeding kids for £1 in store cafés 8 July 2022

Stir it up Magazine - Educating the Educators 05 July 2022

BBC News - SFM responding to warnings school food quality could fall 4 July 2022

Telegraph - The forces making our children unhealthy and diabetic 27 June 2022

Plate Talks - English, Maths, Food Education 27 June 2022

Schools Week - Government food strategy: A disappointment but not the end 18 June 2022

Food Matters Live - Responses to the Government Food Strategy: good intentions but no action plan for real change 15 June 2022

Schools Week - Government food strategy shelves most schools recommendations 13 June 2022

BBC News - Government's Food Strategy falls short 13 June 2022

Channel 5 News - SFM responds to National Food Strategy white paper 13 June 2022

Children & Young People Now - Push for ‘urgent’ free school meals expansion as cost of living soars 31 May 2022

LBC - "We need to expand free school meals eligibility" 29 May 2022

Patient - How to keep your child eating healthily at secondary school - 26 May 2022

The Mirror, The Times, The Telegraph, Daily Mail, The Sun, The Express and Metro -
Parents urged to give kids more fruit and veg as just 1 in 60 school lunchboxes healthy
6 May 2022

Pro Landscaper Magazine - Building vegetable patches with School Food Matters 6 May 2022

iNews - Free school meals: Over 100,000 children and parents could be shunning scheme due to stigma, analysis shows 15 February 2022

iNews - Parents can’t afford to take children to school and pupils are embarrassed to say they’re hungry, head warns 10 February 2022

The Express - Charity School Food Matters steps in with food boxes for families missing out on support 16 December 2021

Evening Standard - Full of beans: London’s youngest farmers bring their harvest to Borough Market 6 October 2021

BBC London - Young Marketeers Harvest Sale 5 October 2021

The Grocer - Government seeking national supplier for £24m school breakfast contract 9 April 2021

The Guardian - Food poverty: rising number of children in England eligible for free school meals 30 March 2021

The Guardian - School Food Matters delivers millionth Breakfast Box 30 March 2021

The Guardian - 'One meal a day': how pandemic hit families before Unicef's aid 18 December 2020

The Mirror - Unicef to feed hungry children in the UK for first time in 70-year history 16 December 2020

Daily Mail - UN aid agency Unicef will help feed BRITISH children for the first time in its history as officials liken Covid's impact on youngsters to that of WWII 16 December 2020

Sky News - COVID-19: For the first time in its history UNICEF will help feed children in the UK 16 December 2020

The Sun - 'Marcus Rashford backs Unicef after it steps in to feed 15,000 British kids over Christmas' 1 November 2020

The Independent - 'Around three in 10 school-aged children are on free school meals, research claims' 12 October 2020

The Guardian - 'Free School Dinners led to fall in childhood obesity rates' 8 March 2020

Women in the Food Industry - An interview with Stephanie Slater 8 January 2020