TV chef lashes out at parents

Jamie Oliver

BRITAIN - Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver launched an attack yesterday on parents who feed their children "junk" - saying some youngsters' diets were "a crime".

He said 70 per cent of packed lunches in Britain were "disgraceful" and he would like to see them banned.

Oliver said teachers were too frightened of some parents to tell them what they should be giving their child to bring to school.

He called on the British Government to give teachers the power to confiscate junk food at the school gates, because schools lacked the confidence to take such radical steps on their own.

He expressed disappointment at the Government's announcement that voluntary cooking lessons will be provided for secondary pupils, arguing only compulsory classes would be effective. Oliver criticises parents in his new TV show Jamie's Return to School Dinners, which is the follow-up to his series on improving school meals.

Oliver said: "I've spent two years being [politically correct] about parents, now is the time to say if you're giving your young children fizzy drinks you're an a*******, you're a t******.

"If you give them bags of crisps you're an idiot. If you aren't cooking them a hot meal, sort it out.

"If they truly care, they've got to take control."

After the screening of the new programme, Oliver said: "I have seen kids the ages of 4 or 5, the same age as mine, open their lunchbox and inside is a cold, half-eaten McDonald's, multiple packets of crisps and a can of Red Bull.

"I have no doubts that these parents love their children," he said. But if a teacher says that a child is very tired at the end of the day, it was wrong for parents to think the solution was 'a can of Red Bull because it gives you wings' - you might as well give them a line of coke".

He said it was a problem he had seen across Britain in both rich and poor schools.

Asked whether he would like to see a ban on packed lunches he said: "Many of us would like to say yes, if there were facilities for better hot meals in all schools."

Oliver also called for a ban on junk food advertising for children.

- INDEPENDENT