School food provision in England: A historical journey

School food provision is an important lever to shape the eating behaviours and dietary intake of school‐aged children and young people, and may help to address issues of childhood obesity, inadequate nutrient intakes and the widening gap of health inequalities. The regulation of school food has been an issue since the 1940s, with the challenges of developing a school food policy that supports health and wellbeing and that can be effectively translated in practice remaining to the present day. This paper examines changes to school food provision in England since the 1940s, with regard to the political structure and decisions made by each respective government. It considers the lessons learned from the development of school food policies over this period and possible ways to improve the standards of school food in the future.