LONDON (Reuters) — Healthy school meals are proving so unpopular with pupils that some school caterers are facing a financial squeeze as students vote with their feet and eat elsewhere or opt for packed lunches.A push to get better quality food onto school menus to improve the poor diet of millions of children has led to a drop in the number of pupils eating school dinners, a BBC survey yesterday showed.

The backlash against the so-called “Jamie Oliver effect” found that of 59 local education authorities, 35 reported the number of kids eating from the new, healthier school menus had dropped compared with six which said more pupils were taking school meals. Eight authorities reported no change and ten said the changes were not applicable. TV chef Oliver exposed the dire quality of food served in school canteens which in some cases was almost exclusively chips, burgers and pizzas. His television series helped embarrass the government into pledging more money for school catering. “We expected there to be a bit of a downturn — children are going to have to get used to eating more healthy food at school,” said Judy Hargadon, chief executive of the School Food Trust.