In the Days When We Used to Feed Our Children Proper Food in School Canteens

July 1, 2023 | This video is mute

Pictures of children eating proper food in school canteens. It wasn’t gourmet food, but it was tasty and nourishing. And palatable nourishment is what our children need. What children eat in schools these days is largely junk food and sodas. Such food is most unsuitable for growing children; and it is certainly not nourishing.

It was a sad day when they decided to do away with school canteens in which children’s food was prepared and made on the premises. So many children from poor homes in the country today are going hungry. Tragically. How much better it would be if they could enjoy at least one square meal in the school canteen!

Who, I wonder, was the Minister for Education who did away with school canteens? We know who snatched the free milk from the children! – © Mark Alexander

French School Makes Muslims and Jews Wear Red Discs

THE TELEGRAPH: Primary school outrages parents by making non-pork eaters wear red discs around their necks in canteen

A school in central France has provoked outrage for making Muslim and Jewish pupils wear a red disc around their necks at lunchtime so canteen staff would not serve them pork.

The Piedalloues primary school in Auxerre, in Burgundy, gave red discs to non-pork eating pupils and yellow discs to those who do not eat meat.

Eighteen of the school’s 1,500 pupils were made to wear the discs. They were withdrawn after protests by angry parents and community leaders, who said they were reminiscent of the yellow stars Jews were forced to wear under the Nazi occupation.

“It’s revolting. It reminds you of the darkest times,” said a local councillor, Malika Ounès. “Practices like this are not acceptable. No one has the right to impose this on children.”

Christian Sautier, director of communications in the mayor’s office, said it was “an isolated, clumsy and unfortunate initiative” that lasted only one day. He said it had been put into effect by canteen staff without informing local authorities, who ended it immediately.

“When we learned about it, we fell out of our chairs,” Mr Sautier said, adding that the mayor had ordered an investigation. » | David Chazan, Paris | Saturday, Septemebr 26, 2015

Nigel Farage Says Britain Is 'Terrified' Of Upsetting Muslims

THE HUFFINGTON POST: Ukip leader Nigel Farage today denied he was jumping on a political bandwagon by supporting a primary school dinner lady sacked for accidentally serving pork to a Muslim pupil.

Alison Waldock, 51, has said she forgot the dietary needs of seven-year-old Khadija Darr when she asked if she wanted roast gammon, and the youngster said yes.

The headteacher of Queen Edith Primary School in Cambridge spotted the mistake as the youngster was about to eat her lunch and swept the plate away from her.

But after the girl's parents were told about the mistake, they complained to the school's catering firm and Ms Waldock, a dinner lady for 11 years, was suspended and then dismissed.

Mr Farage told ITV1's Daybreak programme: "It's outrageous, isn't it? We've all made mistakes in our lives and in our jobs, and I can imagine 250 kids coming through chattering, it's noisy, you've got time pressures on you, and mistakes get made.

"The reason that Alison's been sacked is that we're so terrified in this country of causing offence to anybody, particularly the Muslim religion." » | Press Association | Thursday, August 01, 2013

THE HUFFINGTON POST: Alison Waldock Dinner Lady Row: Muslim Parents Speak Out Over 'Gammongate' » | Mehdi Hassan | Friday, August 02, 2013

Related »

Family Who Got Dinner Lady Fired after She Accidentally Served Their Child Gammon Are Emigrating to Muslim Country

MAIL ONLINE: Zahid and Rumana Darr asked for Alison Waldock to be dismissed / Miss Waldock accidentally served pork, forbidden by Islam, to their daughter / The Darrs are now moving to the conservative UAE

The parents involved in the sacking of a school dinner lady who mistakenly served gammon to their daughter are to emigrate to a Muslim country.

Alison Waldock, 51, was accused of gross misconduct and says she lost her job after Zahid and Rumana Darr asked that she be dismissed.

Today it can be revealed that Mr and Mrs Darr and their three children are emigrating to the United Arab Emirates later this month. The family have chosen to move from their home in Cambridge to Sharjah, where alcohol is banned and there are the strictest decency laws in the emirates.

Mrs Darr, 33, wrote on her Facebook page: ‘So we’re leaving the country end of August for good … We’re moving to Sharjah. We want to go relax in a nice hot Muslim country where the kids know their identities as Muslims.’

The move comes after Mr Darr’s recruitment firm was closed down in June when he was found to be working as a company director illegally.

Following an investigation by the Insolvency Service, he was banned from holding company directorships after he was caught pocketing over £500,000 owed in tax in 2008.

His firm Interecruit (UK) went into liquidation after Mr Darr, 36, ‘diverted’ money owed to the taxman in VAT, income tax and national insurance to another of his companies.

The nine-year ban was imposed in February 2011 but in May this year he was found to be operating a similar company named Interecruit (GB), which supplied agricultural workers. (+ video) » | John Stevens | Thursday, August 01, 2013

Bangers Ban in Hundreds of Schools
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Pork is being banned from school dinners even where the majority of parents have no religious objection to it.

Head teachers are deciding for “cultural” and “religious” reasons to drop traditional sausages and ham from children’s lunches.

One council has issued "best practice" advice to all schools in its area to “ban all pork products in order to cater for the needs of staff and pupils who are not permitted contact with these for religious reasons”.

The guidance, issued in Haringey, north London, does not specify what proportion of a school’s intake should object to the meat - which is not eaten by devout Muslims or Jews - before it is dropped.

The policy was criticised last night by MPs and farmers’ leaders, who accused head teachers of depriving other children of a choice and pointed out that all schools already offer vegetarian options.

Pabulum, a school caterer in south-east England, said that around 20 of the 48 primary schools it supplied chose only non-pork lunches.

Most serve no halal or kosher meat, however, so many Muslim or Jewish pupils would not be able to eat the dishes anyway.

In Luton, 23 out of 57 schools which contract their dinners from the local authority have a “no pork” policy. In Bradford the figure is 24 out of 160; in Newham, east London, it is 25 out of 75; in Tower Hamlets, east London, it is 85 out of 90. In Haringey’s infant, junior and primary schools, 37 out of 47 serve no pork. Read on and comment » | Julie Henry, Education Correspondent | Sunday, June 17, 2012