Schoolchildren will no longer be invited to tour Coca-Cola’s factories, following concerns that the educational trips may lead to ill health and obesity.
More than 100,000 pupils have been on free trips to the soft drink manufacturers’ education centres over the last decade. These centres are based at five of Coca-Cola’s factories and one of its recycling centres.
Coca-Cola is also abandoning the Real Business Challenge, a national competition for secondary pupils, which has so far involved around 390,000, according to a report in The Sunday Times.
This decision comes as Labour proposes banning the sale of high-sugar energy drinks to children under the age of 16.
This has been welcomed by celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, who - as Tes reported - has been campaigning for the sale of these drinks to be limited since the start of the year. He said: “We need cross-party support for this. Child health must be above politics.”
‘Water or juice’
The Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition, a government advisory body, has said that excessive consumption of sugary drinks is linked to tooth decay, type-2 diabetes and weight gain in children and teenagers.
Around 15,000 university, college and school students visit Coca-Cola’s education centres every year. These are often linked to the curriculum, and the drinks manufacturers’ education teams work with teachers to ensure that they cover relevant subject areas.
A Coca-Cola spokesperson said: “While we are enormously proud of our education programme, and what the young people involved have achieved, we have been reviewing the best ways that we can support young people in our local communities.”
The company insisted that it had never used its programme to promote its brand, and that children on factory visits were offered water or juice to drink.
It said it was developing a new scheme to help young people overcome barriers to employment and make a meaningful contribution to their communities.
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