Revamp of free school meals programme to include cold lunch option

Changes to the scheme will see different portion size meals offered to children based on their age

A nutritional study carried out as part of the work found that a wide variety of foods are offered under the scheme and 82% of meals analysed did not contain foods considered high in fat, salt of sugar. File picture: Dan Linehan

A cold lunch option will be included on a standardised menu offered to children as part of an overhaul of the free school meals programme.

Portion size was among the issues highlighted by many of the 86,637 parents across 747 schools, who took part in a survey of the hot school meals programme, which will now be addressed.