TOUGH new guidelines are being introduced to improved the standard of food served in schools.

The new rules which include one or more portions of vegetables or salad as an accompaniment every day, at least three different fruits, and three different vegetables each week, an emphasis on wholegrain foods and making water the drink of choice, will be mandatory in all the 700 maintained, new academies and free schools in Lancashire.

Also among the changes is a reduction in the amount of deep-fried, batter-coated, or breadcrumb-coated food served to pupils.

The idea behind the new standards is to make it easier for school cooks to create imaginative, flexible and nutritious menus.

But why isn’t this already being done?

Only a few years ago Jamie Oliver supposedly revolutionised school meals in his own unique way proving nutritious homemade meals could be created on a shoe string.

Are not all schools following his example?

With the rise in the number of people diagnosed with diabetes type II, it is constantly being drummed into us all about how important it is to eat smart and finish our greens.

Surely if sweets and crisps are banned from the playground those children who suffer from hyperactivity will behave better.

And the more focused and well behaved a child is, the greater chance it has of learning.