The food police

The Herald reports:

In a move that has fired up parents, teachers in the UK have won the right to inspect pupils’ lunchboxes and confiscate unhealthy snacks.

“Schools have common law powers to search pupils, with their consent, for items,” Schools Minister Lord Nash said.

“There is nothing to prevent schools from having a policy of inspecting lunch boxes for food items that are prohibited under their school food policies.

“A member of staff may confiscate, keep or destroy such items found as a result of the search if it is reasonable to do so in the circumstances.”

But not everyone agreed.

Iain Austin, a Labour member of the Commons education committee, said: “With Britain tumbling down the international league tables and with a generation entering the work force with less literacy and numeracy than the generation retiring, you would have thought that teachers might have better things to do than rummage through children’s crisps and fruit.”

The row over packed lunches erupted after Cherry Tree Primary in Colchester banned junk food.

Outraged parents said this was unfair because the school’s menu offered “unhealthy” food including high sugar desserts like pancakes, cookies and mousse.

Vikki Laws, 28, said her daughter – six-year-old Tori – was not allowed to eat her sausage snack. It was confiscated and returned at the end of the day with a note from teachers. She said another parent was warned not to give her child Scotch eggs.

For f**k’s sake. The food gestapo inspecting your children’s lunch boxes to see if they personally approve of what you have given your kids to eat. Why stop there – send the teachers into their homes, to approve their dinners and breakfasts also.