Jamie Oliver wants to ban school bake sales (and for a good reason)

He has been tirelessly fighting for better and healthier school dinners, both at home in the UK and also in the US, where an alarming percentage of children are overweight or even classified as obese. A trend that is mirrored back here on our shores as well, with figures showing that childhood obesity is on the rise. And now it seems Jamie Oliver has his eyes set on cakes – and the good old tradition of the bake sales, and claims selling these treats at school functions are sending children the wrong message about healthy eating. In a report sent out by his Jamie Oliver Food Foundation, the celebrity chef, and father-of-five, states: “The culture of high fat and sugary foods used as rewards, in fundraising and in celebrations, is creating social and physical environments that contradict children’s food education.” The report, produced in partnership with Sheffield University, comes on the back of research made by Oliver's foundation, that found that 86 percent of secondary school teachers and 85 percent of primary school teachers in the UK said their school fundraising activities include cake and bake sales. It is not hard to see then, how this can lead to children receiving mixed messages about nutrition, and what they should and should not eat. As well as the bake sales, the research found that school were also using high fat and high sugar foods are rewards for different school related matters.