Last week senior lecturer Philippa Hudson was interviewed by Radio Solent and Radio Wessex regarding how clean children’s lunchboxes actually are.

Philippa had already previously appeared in the Bournemouth Echo sharing her research on children’s lunchboxes.

The research, by Philippa and dissertation student Hannah Walley, took place at a junior school in Dorset where more than half of pupils took in a packed lunch.

Lunchboxes were kept in trays in corridors, and temperatures were measured throughout the day over a school term.

The results showed that all but one of the lunchboxes – which had a large ice pack inside – reached potentially dangerous temperatures.

Philippa said: “There has been a lot of concern about healthy eating and what children are putting in their lunchbox, but nothing about how safe the food is in their lunchbox.

“The lunchboxes started off refrigerated, but by about 10am they were at ambient temperature. After being in the sun, they went up to 20-24 degrees, which is the temperature at which bacteria grows very rapidly so the risk factors are there.”

To read the Bournemouth Echo article please see here