N14005: A 'Smart' Lunch Box Template Intervention

Study Duration: April 2006 to August 2008

Contractor: University of Leeds

According to Mintel (2002), 5.5 billion lunches are packed for children each year in the UK and on average around 45% of school pupils take a packed lunch from home. A previous lunchbox survey in 2004, commissioned by the Food Standards Agency, found that a serving of fruit or vegetables was contained in just 52% of lunchboxes belonging to primary schoolchildren in schools around the country who took part in the survey. In contrast, 69% of lunchboxes included a packet of crisps and 58% included a chocolate bar or biscuits. When compared with food group standards set for primary school meals - that a meal provide at least one fruit and one vegetable, one milk or dairy item, one meat, fish or alternative protein source and one portion of a starchy food - only 26% of lunchboxes met the food groups standard, a slight improvement on the previous year's survey but still a cause for concern. The survey concluded that 'educational activities for both parents and children need to focus on improving awareness of the need for inclusion, and consumption of, fruit and vegetables. Improvement is also required in the balance of starches to sugars and positive messages to increase intake of starchy foods may be more effective than more negatively focused messages to reduce sugar intake'.

The project will consist of four distinct components:

• video ethnography of lunchbox shopping and preparation habits to inform the development and application of the smart lunchbox template
• baseline survey - 80 schools in England, Scotland, Wales and N. Ireland will be selected to achieve a sample size of 720 children in year 4 (aged 8-9). The lunchbox survey will be repeated following similar procedures to previous surveys to allow comparison
• intervention - schools will be randomised to two groups - control (advice only); advice plus 'smart' lunchbox template. In the advice plus template group the whole school, parents and teachers will be involved in encouraging better practice. A lunchbox champion will be trained to deliver the intervention in each school.
• follow-up survey - this will be carried out post intervention on the same children, now in year 5 (aged 9-10) and allow estimation of the intervention effect.

This study includes a cluster randomised controlled trial of a ‘Smart’ lunchbox template designed to improve the content of primary school children’s packed lunches in the UK:

The report of the baseline lunchbox survey 'Packed Lunches in Primary Schools in the UK' from this project is now available

This report is available from the Agency’s Information Centre.
To obtain a copy, please contact the Enquiry Desk, Information Services, Food Standards Agency (tel: 020 7276 8181/8182 or email: infocentre@foodstandards.gsi.gov.uk)

For any enquiries concerning this research project, please contact the relevant Programme contact or email: science@foodstandards.gsi.gov.uk