The proposed changes to England’s School Food Standards are set to bring the biggest overhaul of school food requirements in more than a decade.
While the final standards are due to be confirmed by the end of this month, implementation is not immediate. The new requirements are currently expected to come into force in primary schools from September 2027, followed by secondary schools from September 2028.
That may sound like plenty of time. But for schools and MATs managing their own catering operations in-house putting the right processes, information and systems in place now, to make compliance manageable from day one, is key.
From compliance exercise to everyday practice
For an in-house catering team, meeting School Food Standards involves much more than creating a menu that looks healthy.
Menus need to be planned against requirements and be inclusive of those with allergies. Ingredients and suppliers need to be managed. Costs need to be monitored. And schools need to be able to demonstrate that what they’re serving meets the required standards.
When this information is spread across spreadsheets, recipe files, supplier portals and paper records, keeping everything up to date can quickly become a significant administrative task.
And as the standards evolve, the risk is that catering teams find themselves repeatedly checking and updating information manually. The answer isn’t simply more administration; it’s better systems.
Get ahead before the deadline
For schools managing catering in-house, the period before implementation provides a valuable opportunity to review how catering is currently managed.
- Are menus being checked consistently against the existing School Food Standards?
- How quickly could your team identify where a menu needs to change?
- Do you have accurate nutritional and allergen information for every recipe?
- Can you easily see the cost of individual dishes and menus?
- And, perhaps most importantly, can you demonstrate compliance to school leaders, governors and trustees without having to pull information together manually?
Tech-driven systems that can help
Litmus Edge, our specialist catering management system, is designed specifically for schools and MATs that manage their catering in-house.
It brings key elements of catering management together in one platform, helping teams reduce administration while improving visibility, control and compliance.
For example, its menu planning functionality supports schools in creating and managing School Food Standards-compliant menus, while a comprehensive recipe bank provides access to recipes linked to nutritional and allergen information.
A School Food Standards checker can also highlight where menus need adjusting, helping catering teams identify potential issues before menus are published and served. This means compliance becomes part of the menu planning process – rather than a separate exercise carried out afterwards.
Better information means better decisions
When schools have clearer information about what they are serving, what it costs and how it’s performing, catering teams can make better-informed decisions.
This will be particularly important as schools adapt to the new standards. While meeting the requirements is essential, it’s equally important that changes to menus do not inadvertently affect the number of pupils and parents choosing school meals. Menu development needs to balance nutritional requirements with the foods pupils actually want to eat. Having access to data on dish popularity and wastage, can help catering teams understand what’s working, identify where changes may be needed and develop menus that meet the standards without compromising meal uptake.
Cost modelling can help teams balance nutritional requirements with available food budgets. Standardised recipes can support consistency across kitchens and sites. Reporting can give school leaders and governors greater visibility of catering performance.
For MATs in particular, having this information in one system can provide a much clearer picture across multiple schools. Instead of relying on individual spreadsheets or different processes at each site, trusts can work from consistent data and processes – while still giving individual schools the flexibility to manage their own catering operations.
Prepare now, not later
The new School Food Standards may not need to be implemented until 2027 for primary schools and 2028 for secondary schools, but that doesn’t mean schools should wait until then to act.
Getting the right technology in place means catering teams have time to embed new processes, understand the data available to them and make the most of the system before the new requirements become mandatory.
That way compliance, nutrition, cost control and good menu management are part of the everyday process – and schools can spend more time focusing on delivering food that pupils want to eat.
To find out more about how Litmus Edge can help your school or trust prepare for the new School Food Standards get in touch with us here.
The Litmus team
