Here in the US there are also restrictions due to food allergies. Whether you agree with the idea or not, it is commonplace in almost all schools now. It can be the entire school or individual classrooms. Most common is the peanut allergies. I know the reactions can be quite bad but I also know a lot of kids that live on PB&J. I think in the past the child that was allergic was taught to avoid their allergy but now they just don't allow any child to bring the items.

I like the fact that there is school for all at age 4.

Here in Australia it's discretionary with each school about the lunches/recess foods. We don't do school caf's, which I happen to think is a great thing, as I've seen some of the available items for these kids, and as someone said - no wonder there is an obesity problem!

The kids here eat in the classroom or outside on a nice day, they have a canteen (Primary School - 4-12 years) where they can buy lunch 2 days a week (this is the school my dd's go/went to) The teachers can and do remove items from lunchboxes that they don't feel are suitable - but MOST parents still send there kids with crap like packets of chips etc.

I am in two minds about it, I can see the WHY of it - but do also think that I should be presumed responsible enough to pack the lunch MY child needs - but then that's a huge assumption and obviously a lot of parents don't have a clue and this is why WE have an obesity problem, then there are also all the "banned foods" and some bloody irresponsible parents will still send nut products despite their being highly allergic kids at the school. There are kids that are obese and their parents are still sending huge amounts of fatty/high cal foods. So obviously not all parents ARE responsible/educated enough.

My exSD is 14. She is enormous, very overweight - yes obese. She's 14 FFS and she is 3 dress sizes bigger than me (and I'm what you would call curvaceous LOL - I have soft bits, and very much hourglass curves) She's a big girl.

You know what her dear BM sends her to school with for lunch? ALL prepackaged food, convenience foods. High fat, high cal. Packets of chips, packets of biscuits, muesli bars, chocolate bars, juice boxes, a white bread roll with just butter on it. She stayed here for a week during term time last year, and had to eat the same lunch I pack MY kids.... shock to the system. Well she still got the buttered bread roll (mine have crackers, dip, carrot sticks, kabana) but then it was a yoghurt, banana/apple, fruit snack (diced fruit in natural juice) and a freddo frog. She was HATING that week LOL