Government cancels survey on nutritional content of school meals

The government has cancelled a national survey on the take-up and nutritional content of school meals, one of the major victories of Jamie Oliver's campaign and seen as a significant indicator for wider childhood health and obesity.

The Children's Food Trust, which has carried out the study since 2006, told the Guardian it had been informed by the Department for Education that it would not be commissioned to do the survey this year, and nor would another organisation. Ministers will decide whether to resurrect the survey in the future following a wider report into school food led by Henry Dimbleby and John Vincent, founders of the Leon chain of restaurants.

Last month the trust, set up by the government in the wake of Oliver's 2005 TV series about the poor standard of food served in many schools, learned it would lose all its government funding, news that prompted alarm among childhood nutrition campaigners.

Dr Michael Nelson, director of research and nutrition for the trust, who led the annual studies, said they had been set up in response to a clear need: "The local authorities catering association had done a study in 2005, but before that there hadn't been once since 1998. There was a big gap in even knowing how many kids in school were actually eating school food. There was no comprehensive information."

The trust liaised with all 152 local authorities in England and gathered comprehensive data on school meals take-up, catering facilities in schools, the cost of meals and how they were financed, compliance with school foods standards and the training of staff.

Cancelling the research risked a return to the "bad old days", Nelson said: "We know there are lots of parties interested in the information we have been collecting. We would like to see that information continue to be collected in the coming years. I'm keen for the DfE to recognise the value of the survey."

The information brought vital information about wider childhood health issues, he said: "If you think about the obesity epidemic and the concerns the government rightly has about children not getting slimmer – and the latest childhood measurement programme data shows they're sadly becoming increasingly obese – you can argue that school food take-up is a good marker for children becoming engaged with healthier eating. We know that schools' lunches are healthier than packed lunches."

Jo Nicholas, the trust's head of evaluation, was more blunt in a post on a trust-run blog: "Some will say that no one cares about this stuff, except research wonks like me. But if the meals our children are getting at school start to decline once again, that's an issue for all of us: more children deciding to opt for packed lunches or buying food outside of school instead means more children relying on a bag of crisps and a can of something sugary to take them through the afternoon. Kids who are less focused in the classroom and not performing to their full potential. A whopping miss of an opportunity to help them learn what it means to eat well. If we don't know where things are falling down, how will we pick up the pieces again?"