Huge Jamie Oliver fan here. There deffinitely should be some changes to the cafeteria offerings, not to mention the vending machines, as well.
Though, it's important to remember the differences in the school system between Canada and the UK. (And you could put the US in there as well, but I'm not that familiar with how schools are run there). How many schools in this province have meal-programs where all students eat cafeteria food... every day? It's a lot more common-place in the UK, and hence, a lot easier to start changing cafeteria offerings and monitoring what it provided and what is consummed by students.
Some schools are starting to do little things, but it would be great to have a government-backed initiative. I know some elementary schoolsw don't allow students to bring "junk" for snack time. No chips, no chocolate bars, no pop... and I haven't heard parents say that their kids are complaining.
I remember being fairly involved in high school trying to get some healthy alternatives into the vending machines and the cafeteria. And I couldn't believe the wall we all ran up against. Too expensive for a school to do this on their own, we were told, amongst other reasons. All we wanted were some cereal bars and maybe some fruit (apples, and some 'light' caramel dip, always seems to be a well-liked snack). It wasn't much, but it would've been a start. Needless to say, our program couldn't even get off the ground.
There are so many simple alternatives out there. Parents need to take an active role in this as well, and start teaching their kids about these things early on in life. Way too many things get dumped on the schools lately... when better parenting (overall) wouldn't hurt.
