Jamie Oliver has hit back at critics who blame him for the removal of Turkey Twizzlers from school dinners all over the country, 20 years after his Channel 4 series Jamie’s School Dinners got the beloved processed meat snack banned.
The TV chef and author, 50, exposed the dire nutritional state of Britain’s school dinners in 2005 and villainised junk foods like Turkey Twizzlers.
Shortly after the series was broadcast, sparking huge national conversations about whether school dinners were helping to fuel the child obesity crisis, Turkey Twizzlers were banned from menus due to their poor nutritional value.
The move sparked outrage among schoolchildren across the country, who, even 20 years later, still declare that Jamie will ‘never be forgiven’ for it.
But in a new interview, Jamie has claimed that he wasn’t truly responsible for Turkey Twizzlers suddenly vanishing from school dinners.
‘I actually never took away the Turkey Twizzler,’ he told The Times.
‘In its simplest form it is a sausage and should have three or four ingredients. But [the ingredient list] was in the forties and the meat content was very low.
‘All I did was create standards. We banned all these additives that were in the Twizzlers and set a minimum meat content of 65 per cent.’
Jamie Oliver, 50, says he ‘never actually got Turkey Twizzlers taken away’ despite being behind the campaign that got them banned from school dinners in 2005
Turkey Twizzlers famously comprised of only 34 per cent turkey meat, while the rest was fat, salt, and multiple preservatives, making them poor in nutritional value
Jamie, who recently launched a new cookbook Eat Yourself Healthy, added that before the new food standards for school meals were put in place, it was ‘the Wild West’.
Turkey Twizzlers comprised of just 34 per cent turkey meat, whilst the rest of the ingredients included pork fat, rusk, multiple preservatives, and a coating that had 21 ingredients alone.
Despite them being high in salt and fat, the snacks were beloved by schoolchildren at the time. Now, many of them are in their 30s and 40s, and still hold a grudge against the celebrity chef for helping get rid of their favourite meat snack.
‘Jamie Oliver will never be forgiven for the removal of Turkey Twizzlers,’ one Reddit user posted on the forum.
Another added: ‘It’s been nearly 20 years and my husband is still pissed!’
A third said: ‘I will literally hold onto my grudge of Jamie Oliver until my dying breath. Turkey Twizzlers were amazing and because of him acting holier-than-thou, he somehow got them banned.’
In 2005, Jamie’s Channel 4 series exposed the dire state of Britain’s school dinners and the celebrity chef embarked on a mission to get schoolchildren to eat healthier meals
Jamie said that all he did was ‘create standards’ for school meals in order to make them healthier, as prior to his campaign, it was a ‘Wild West’
‘Turkey Twizzlers were the only reason I went to school. I disliked [Jamie Oliver] prior to his little crusade, but when he went after Twizzlers, he became my sworn nemesis.’
Others lamented the other school food items they lost after Jamie’s healthy meals plans took over and set new standards for students’ food.
One person recalled: ‘My high school actually had the most incredible sausage rolls until my first year at high school, the Jame Oliver t*** rolled in and those god tier sausage rolls were nuked off the face of the earth.
‘To this day, I’ve never had a sausage roll that was even half as good. Every time I’m about to bite into one for the first time, I hope and pray that it’ll be like those long-lost sausage rolls, but it never is. I’m still mad about it.’
But some people came to Jamie’s defence, pointing out that his campaign to get children to eat healthier food was a positive move as the obesity crisis continues.
‘I have a weird relationship with Jamie Oliver. I think he’s a t*** with all the bish-bash-bosh malarkey, but I quite like most of what he does,’ one person opined.
‘Sorry Twizzler fans, but that includes getting s*** food out of schools. My kids are served crap at school that we’d never have in the house.’
Another added: ‘It’s easy to mock [Jamie] for his laddish personality and crying following his various failed crusades, but ultimately he really cares.
‘He cares that everyone in Britain should eat well, not just the middle classes. He cares that kids are well-nourished and can make healthy decisions.
‘He believes that we all can and should do better with our food and diet… Sometimes he speaks out of his a***, sometimes he is a tad hypocritical, but he is prepared to stick his head above the parapet and take the scorn for trying to accomplish something real and worthwhile (and to earn tens of millions of pounds).’
A third argued: ‘The things he advocates for, homemade from scratch cooking over reheated processed food, is definitely better for people.’
‘Just because his campaign failed and people kept eating unhealthy food does not mean he’s some devil. He did exactly what you want the NHS to do, try and teach people about healthier eating.’
Coinciding with the release of his new cookbook, Jamie Oliver has also launched a new Channel 4 series with the same name, showing viewers how to cook the healthy recipes in his book.
According the Channel 4, the new series has Jamie showing viewers ‘hot to make more nutritious nosh, colourful chomp and flavoursome fare, serving up bountiful inspiration to help us make health-promoting choices’.
This article was originally published by a www.dailymail.co.uk . Read the Original article here. .