British Children Still Rely On Snacks But Are Cutting Back On Chips.

British schoolchildren are still not eating the proper foods but at least they have cut down on French fries, according to a recent report on school meals. Gardner Merchant, one of Britain's leading catering firms, found that children are replacing the traditional routine of three meals a day

The survey found 45 percent of the British children surveyed buy sweets on the way to school, 20 percent buy potato chips and savory snacks and 25 percent are substituting a proper evening meal for more snacks. But the survey of nearly 900 seven to 16 year-olds around the country found the average child ate French fries, 2.48 times per week, down from 2.86 in 1996.

Snacking itself is not the problem, nutrition experts say. Children must be educated to choose healthy options like fruit, breakfast cereal, toast, yogurt and vegetables.

The survey also found beef is being served again in school cafeterias following the mad cow scares of 1996. The discovery that humans could develop a form of a fatal brain-wasting disease eating the infected beef caused meat consumption by children to dip between 1994 and 1996 but is now on the rise, says the study.