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Secondary schools are serving up high fat, high salt and high sugar foods that don’t meet national nutritional standards, according to a new government report.

Pupils are choosing high fat and sweet foods over healthier options, says the survey of 79 maintained secondary schools by the Food Standards Agency and Department for Education and Skills.

Most schools used outside contractors to provide food to pupils, and the foods on offer did not generally offer a balanced diet. None of the set meals offered by the schools met nutritional standards, and foods offered most often were cakes, says the report.

Pupils eating meals from secondary school canteens were most likely to choose high fat main dishes such as burgers with fried chips or other fried potato products, and soft drinks. The least popular choices were fruit, fruit juice, vegetables and salads. As a result, more than 40 per cent of total energy was derived from fat.

More than half the pupils spent less than £1.50 on their lunch, and those spending less than £1.50 were more likely to buy chips.

The report recommends compulsory national nutritional standards for school food.

It also says pupil choices should be restricted to healthier foods and lunches as choices must conform to the "balance of good health" standard.

Schools should have written documentation on the nutritional quality of school lunches which are "specific, quantitative, measurable and time-bound" and these standards must be monitored.

Head cooks and catering managers must have training in healthy catering and resources to support this should be provided by the DfES.

The report also recommends that the DfES sets up a committee to develop a new set of compulsory nutritional standards for school meals.

In a separate report, Ofsted and the Food Standards Agency found there was no effective food and nutrition education in most primary schools. As a result, children’s knowledge of food and nutrition was generally poor and what they learned had very little impact on what they chose to eat and drink.

- More information at www.food.gov.uk/multimedia/pdfs/secondaryschoolmeals.pdf