Of the parents surveyed, 46.7% said they support increasing the number of plant-based meals served in schools.
37% agreed that schools serving more plant-based foods would make the meals healthier, while 24% disagreed with that perspective.
Furthermore, 85% of parents were in support of schools delivering more lessons on healthy food choices.
The poll was commissioned by food awareness organisation ProVeg UK, which runs the School Plates initiative. Since the initiative was launched in 2018, around 12,000 schools have swapped more than 50 million meals for plant-based or meat-free options.
The School Plates programme now works with more than 100 school catering partners across the country.
Commenting on the results of the survey, ProVeg UK co-director Sophia Millar said: “It’s great to see support for plant-based options on school menus is strong with parents. ProVeg has already swapped 50 million meals to date – a fantastic milestone – and we’ll continue to keep championing plant-rich recipes, and training school caterers to cook with planet-friendly and nutritious ingredients.”
In line with the Committee on Climate Change’s recommendations, ProVeg UK is aiming to support a transition away from reliance on animal products and reduce the impact of our current food system on the environment.
Elsewhere, ProVeg International has welcomed a newly published international standard that will serve to “increase trust in the global plant-based food industry”.
The standard is called ‘Plant-based foods and food ingredients — Definitions and technical criteria for labelling and claims’ and is published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).
“We expect the new standard to have a profound impact on industry,” said Martine van Haperen, a foodservice and food industry expert at ProVeg International.
“In addition to giving guidance for voluntary corporate labelling policies, it could be a first step towards governmental legislation regarding the labelling of plant-based foods, further solidifying consumer trust in this product claim.”
