A survey on English nursery schools has found that too much fruit and inadequate carbohydrate is being fed to kids and this may not be enough to maintain their energy levels.
Children are also given too much salty food, and the size of portions varies: some are big enough for 10-year-olds and others so small that they lack key nutrients.
Parents are also blamed for putting pressure on staff to ban key sources of nourishment such as whole-fat milk and red meat.
The findings are released today by the Local Authority Co-ordinators of Regulatory Services (LACORS), which asked trading standards officers in 29 councils, including Cumbria, Hampshire and Leicestershire, to check on the lunches and snacks offered by 118 nurseries over a five-day period.
The results provide a nationwide snapshot of the food offered to more than 600,000 children who spend up to ten hours a day at nursery.
One surprise is the lack of food in mid-morning and the afternoon. Some children received only half an apple or pear to keep them going until lunch. In the afternoon some were not offered a snack at all, and for those that were, it was often banana pieces or grapes.