‘Unacceptable’ Food Packages for Poorer Children Prompt Outcry in U.K. - The New York Times

Jan 13, 2021

Photos of the packages, which critics called meager and overpriced, circulated widely on social media, prompting the government to reinstate vouchers for parents to buy food, themselves.

LONDON — The food package, spread out on a carpet, included a can of beans, an assortment of fruit, vegetables, snacks, and sliced bread and cheese — provisions from a government program that provides low-income students with free lunches.

The portions were meager, raising concerns about whether children were getting enough nutrition during the coronavirus pandemic, and the government had overpaid for them, the critics said.

Chartwells, a contractor responsible for providing the lunch package circulated on Twitter, said on Tuesday that the photo contained enough for five days of school lunches, not 10, and that the charge for it, including distribution costs, totaled about $14.

“The photos being shared on social media last night and today are completely unacceptable and do not reflect the high standard of free school meals we expect to be sent to children,” said Vicky Ford, minister for children and families.

She added that there was a lack of transparency around how big companies won contracts and that the government had not adequately recognized that low-income families would struggle to get food during the lockdown.

About 1.4 million children claimed free school meals in the 2019-2020 school year, according to government figures