Responsible Sales & Marketing
Presence in Schools
The School Food Trust has been working hard to support implementation of the Government’s new regulations for food and drink in schools. Some manufacturers have been really supportive. Coca-Cola has accepted that they cannot sell “fizzy” drinks in schools. They’ve introduced new soft drinks which are suitable for the school environment and have worked hard to ensure that only those drinks which fit with the new guidelines are available.” JUDY HARGADON, CHIEF EXECUTIVE, SCHOOL FOOD TRUST
Working in partnership with schools
For over 30 years, our products have helped secondary school pupils to stay refreshed and hydrated throughout the school day. This is important, not least because scientific studies have shown that poor hydration can adversely affect pupils’ concentration and mental performance.4
We work closely with regulatory authorities and individual schools to ensure that we can support policy makers, meet expectations and provide products that are suited to the secondary school environment.
In 2006 the Department for Education and Skills (now the Department for Children, Schools and Families) issued new regulations on the food and drink products that can be sold in English schools. These came into effect for school lunch products in September 2006 and for other products in September 2007.
We made the conscious decision to go beyond the letter of the law by ensuring that only products from our new schools portfolio (including ‘Minute Maid’ 100% juice and ‘Malvern’ water) would be available to secondary schools from September 2006, a year ahead of time.
We did so because we knew that schools would have difficulty restricting access to vending machines and drawing the line between drinks consumed at lunchtime and those consumed at other times of the day. We also worked with the School Food Trust (which is responsible for supporting Government to implement the new regulations) to encourage school catering companies to follow our example.
We’re proud of our new portfolio and believe we’re well positioned to meet the Government’s new standards. All of our 100% juice products including ‘Minute Maid’ 100% juice, ‘Appletiser’, ‘Peartiser’ and ‘Capri Sun’ 100% juice contribute one portion towards the recommended five daily portions of fruit and vegetables.
We’re also working closely with the Welsh Assembly and the Scottish Executive to make sure we’re in line with – or ahead of – current legislation on food and drink in Welsh and Scottish schools.
Primary Schools
In line with our Marketing to Children policy, we have no vending machines in British primary schools and we don’t supply any of our products to them.
4 D’Anci KE, Contant F, Rosenberg IH. Hydration and cognitive function in children. Nutr Rev 2006
