A recent study by researchers from the University of Leeds has suggested that just 1% of primary schoolchildren's packed lunches meet the nutritional standards set for school meals in England.

This is astonishing stuff, considering half of the UK’s children eat a packed lunch - mounting up to 5.5bn lunches a year.

The research showed that, out of the 1300 packed lunches studied:

• Over 25% contained sweets, savoury snacks, and sugary drinks – items which are banned under rules on healthy prepared meals for local authority schools in England
• An additional 25% had a similar contents, without a sugary drink, and fewer than one in ten contained none of these items
• Over half of the lunch boxes contained foods with insufficient levels of vitamin A, folate, iron and zinc

Judy Hargadon, Chief Executive of the School Food Trust, has said: “Once again, this research highlights why buying a well-balanced school lunch is now the most nutritious choice for children and young people. The Trust’s own research in schools has also found that packed lunches often aren’t as nutritious as school lunches, with many lunches brought from home containing higher levels of salt, fat and sugar.

Now that nutrient-based standards are in place, parents can be sure that the average school lunch is offering the right mix of energy and 13 nutrients that children need - so we’re encouraging more families to give them a try."

Providing tasty, nutritious and wholesome food that children actually want to eat is something we know all about, having provided school dinners for children for nearly 20 years. Click here to see a ‘typical’ Pabulum primary school menu.

Read the BBC’s full story here.