Spanish children have eaten these staples for generations, now England is following suit

New rules have been announced for England to include items in school lunches that the Spanish have been using for decades.

New school food standards hitting plates in England

Long gone are the days of getting a tray and slop being slapped onto your plate, a glass of milk and a dessert of rice pudding with a blob of jam in the middle. Now new rules for school meals are being introduced by the Department for Education, bringing the biggest change to cafeteria menus in more than a decade in a bid to tackle obesity and dental issues in children.

Deep-fried dishes will disappear completely from kitchens and pulses such as lentils and chickpeas will become compulsory on menus at least once a week. Every dish served must now contain at least one portion of fruit or vegetables and breakfast favourites including fried eggs, pastries, chocolate spread and sugary cereals will face the axe too.

Cakes and sweet treats will be limited to once a week in primary schools and twice a week in secondary schools, with every dessert required to include a portion of fruit. Ice cream also faces restrictions. Foods high in fat and salt, including pizzas and sausages, will also be capped.

The standards will come into effect next September, with secondary schools given until September 2028 to make some of the changes. Schools will be required to publish their menus and food policies online and appoint a food governor to hold them to account, with the DfE working alongside the Food Standards Agency on a monitoring plan due in the coming months. One in three children leaving primary school are said to be overweight or obese, with tooth decay linked to sugary diets the leading cause of hospital admissions among five to nine-year-olds.

Already regulars on Spanish school menus

Spanish school’s have been serving staples such as lentils and chickpeas for years. Lunch services across the country build their weekly menus around rotating pasta, rice, vegetables and pulses, with lentil and chickpea stews turning up as a matter of routine. Nothing about a lentil-based lunch surprises a Spanish or expat parent of child in a local school. Children eat these dishes regularly, simply because pulses have always had a place in the standard rotation alongside meat, fish and pasta. Spain’s 2025 new rules limited fried and pre-cooked on school menus and now England is catching up.