{"id":888346,"date":"2026-01-27T23:26:39","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T05:26:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/27\/she-hasnt-got-a-clue-backlash-at-luvvie-emma-thompson-for-criticism-of-unhealthy-school-dinners\/"},"modified":"2026-01-27T23:26:39","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T05:26:39","slug":"she-hasnt-got-a-clue-backlash-at-luvvie-emma-thompson-for-criticism-of-unhealthy-school-dinners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/27\/she-hasnt-got-a-clue-backlash-at-luvvie-emma-thompson-for-criticism-of-unhealthy-school-dinners\/","title":{"rendered":"‘She hasn’t got a clue!’ Backlash at luvvie Emma Thompson for criticism of ‘unhealthy school dinners’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Dame Emma Thompson<\/a> has sparked a backlash after hitting out at \u2018unhealthy\u2019 school dinners in a new campaign video.<\/p>\n

The Love Actually<\/a> star, 66, has narrated a new film criticising heads and the Government over \u2018ultra-processed food\u2019 (UPF) in schools.<\/p>\n

Dame Emma\u2019s intervention comes 20 years after chef Jamie Oliver<\/a> launched his own campaign against \u2018Turkey Twizzlers\u2019 and other processed food in schools \u2013 leading to new Government standards for lunches.<\/p>\n

The clip, produced for the Food Foundation charity and released today, calls on ministers to better \u2018monitor\u2019 school food to ensure it is nutritious.<\/p>\n

However, yesterday it provoked a backlash on social media from those pointing out many children are fussy and refuse to eat a diverse range of foods.<\/p>\n

One critic said: \u2018Good luck with that! You cannot get them to eat it, they go packed lunch instead or don\u2019t eat it, then go hungry.\u2019<\/p>\n

A second said: \u2018You can\u2019t make kids eat heathy, that old saying comes to mind\u2026 you can lead a horse to water, but you can\u2019t make them drink it.\u2019<\/p>\n

A third said: \u2018Another celebrity who hasn\u2019t got a clue.\u2019<\/p>\n

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Dame Emma Thompson (pictured) has sparked a backlash after hitting out at ‘unhealthy’ school dinners in a new campaign video\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The Love Actually star, 66, has narrated a new film (pictured) criticising heads and the Government over \u2018ultra-processed food\u2019 (UPF) in schools<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The clip (pictured), produced for the Food Foundation charity and released today, calls on ministers to better ‘monitor’ school food to ensure it is nutritious<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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However, the film has provoked a backlash on social media from those pointing out many children are fussy and refuse to eat a diverse range of foods<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The video includes an illustration of a healthy school lunch<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The video features a cartoon illustration of a plate of healthy food, which includes red cabbage, lettuce, cucumber, aubergine, potatoes and cherry tomatoes.<\/p>\n

A cartoon of a boy eating cereal out of a packet is shown during the \u2018unhealthy food\u2019 part of the video.<\/p>\n

Dame Emma says in the video: \u2018Four and a half million children in the UK are growing up in poverty. For many, a healthy diet is unaffordable. Fewer than 10 per cent of teenagers eat enough fruit and veg. And we see the impact of this lack of nutrients on those living in the most deprived areas. They\u2019re growing up shorter than other kids.\u2019<\/p>\n

She adds: \u2018Whilst some schools are managing to cook and serve healthy food, too many are now serving food that is unhealthy and lacking in essential nutrition. It is ultra-processed.\u2019<\/p>\n

A young person then says: \u2018Ultra processed food, UPF. It\u2019s cheap, it\u2019s high in calories but it\u2019s very low in goodness.\u2019<\/p>\n

Dame Emma hits out at the Government for not \u2018monitoring what\u2019s happening in the school food system\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u2018We just want to sit down to a school lunch that\u2019s good for us,\u2019 says another young person in the video.<\/p>\n

Dame Emma adds: \u2018Imagine that. Classrooms would be calmer, children with full tummies ready to learn\u2026 Every child has the right to healthy food \u2013 let\u2019s get it right in all our schools. Let\u2019s give all our kids a good lunch.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

The film is part of the Food Foundation\u2019s campaign to update food standards in schools to make sure pupils living in poverty have access to a healthy, hot meal.<\/p>\n

They say current food standards in schools do not take into account recent nutritional recommendations, and compliance with standards is not monitored.<\/p>\n

The clip attracted diverse reaction from parents, school staff and the wider public on social media.<\/p>\n

One critic said: \u2018You can cook all the nutritious food you like, and schools do, including salad and fruit, but you cannot force a child to eat it. They have a choice to eat what they want. The amount of nutritious good thrown away in primary [schools] is criminal.\u2019<\/p>\n

Another said: \u2018I\u2019d like to know the take-up because I hear kids don\u2019t take it up because they don\u2019t like the food.\u2019<\/p>\n

A third said: \u2018I work in a school and we provide salad pots, hot meals, vegetables, pudding and fruit. A lot of children don\u2019t want to eat the salad pots or the vegetables\u2026 We can supply everything but we cannot force a child to eat anything.\u2019<\/p>\n

However, others agreed with Dame Emma, with one saying: \u2018I would never put my kids on school dinners the food is beige central with very little variety, even more so if your kids don\u2019t eat meat.<\/p>\n

Another said: \u2018Our school has some \u201cinteresting\u201d food choices for a primary school that are more fitting for a working men\u2019s club like a cheese and onion roll.\u2019<\/p>\n

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WHAT ARE ULTRA-PROCESSED FOODS?\u00a0<\/h3>\n
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Ultra-processed foods are high in added fat, sugar and salt, low in protein and fibre and contain artificial colourings, sweeteners and preservatives.<\/p>\n

The term covers food that contains ingredients that a person wouldn’t add when cooking at home \u2014 such as chemicals, colourings and preservatives.<\/p>\n

Ready meals, ice cream, sausages, deep-fried chicken and ketchup are some of the best-loved examples.<\/p>\n

They are different to processed foods, which are processed to make them last longer or enhance their taste, such as cured meat, cheese and fresh bread.<\/p>\n

Ultra-processed foods, such as sausages, cereals, biscuits and fizzy drinks, are formulations made mostly or entirely from substances derived from foods and additives.<\/p>\n

They contain little or no unprocessed or minimally processed foods, such as fruit, vegetables, seeds and eggs.<\/p>\n

The foods are usually packed with sugars, oils, fats and salt, as well as\u00a0 additives, such as preservatives, antioxidants and stabilisers.<\/p>\n

Ultra-processed foods are often presented as ready-to-consume, taste good and are cheap.<\/p>\n

Source: Open Food Facts<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Dame Emma, who attended the elite Camden School for Girls in London when it was a grammar, is known for her activism on food poverty and climate change.<\/p>\n

In 2019, she was ridiculed during another nutrition campaign for claiming on TV that pupils are being denied tap water in schools.<\/p>\n

She said poor children are spending their lunch allowance on bottled water, leaving them with hardly any money for food.<\/p>\n

The Labour-supporting actress even said water fountains are being broken ‘on purpose’ in some schools to boost bottled water sales.<\/p>\n

At the time, the then Tory Government said it ‘did not believe’ her claim because it is illegal for schools to withhold water and those doing do would face sanction.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Today, Jamie Oliver said: \u2018Good school food transforms children\u2019s health, learning, attendance and wellbeing. Yet we still have a system where some children eat well at school and others don\u2019t. That\u2019s outrageous.<\/p>\n

\u2018School meals are the UK\u2019s biggest and most important restaurant chain, and it\u2019s failing too many of its customers. It\u2019s long past time for government to properly update 20-year-old standards and actually enforce them.\u2019<\/p>\n

The Government announced last year it would expand free school meal eligibility to all pupils in England whose families claim Universal Credit.<\/p>\n

Anna Taylor, executive director of the Food Foundation, said: \u2018Monitoring has to go hand in hand with new standards so that schools which aren\u2019t meeting standards can be given adequate support to improve.<\/p>\n

\u2018There are lots of wonderful examples of schools delivering fantastic food to children \u2013 that experience needs to be less of a postcode lottery and instead something which all children can benefit from.\u2019<\/p>\n

A Government spokeman said: \u2018Through our Plan for Change, we\u2019ve taken the historic step to offer free school meals to every child from a household in receipt of universal credit, reaching over half a million more children and helping us to drive the biggest reduction of child poverty in a single Parliament.<\/p>\n

\u2018The Government is working with experts to revise the School Food Standards as part of our mission to create the healthiest ever generation of children.\u2019<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Elida Fetzer
Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dame Emma Thompson has sparked a backlash after hitting out at \u2018unhealthy\u2019 school dinners in a new campaign video. The Love Actually star, 66, has narrated a new film criticising heads and the Government over \u2018ultra-processed food\u2019 (UPF) in schools. Dame Emma\u2019s intervention comes 20 years after chef Jamie Oliver launched his own campaign against<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":888347,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1572,22012],"tags":[10210,10026],"class_list":{"0":"post-888346","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-backlash","8":"category-hasnt","9":"tag-backlash","10":"tag-hasnt"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888346","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=888346"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888346\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/888347"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=888346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=888346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=888346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}