Call for control over 'junk food' shops near schools.

SCHOOLS must clamp down on shops selling cheap, discounted junk food to pupils, experts said.

"Fringe" shops are winning the battle against healthy school dinners for children's custom, according to Professor Jack Winkler, director of the Nutrition Policy Unit at London Metropolitan University.

He suggested controls on shops offering cutprice chocolate and soft drinks to pupils on their way to school, and a ban on discounted "multipacks" of goods which children often sell on when they reach the school gates.

It came as a former chair of the Local Authority Caterers Association (Laca) said lunchtime needs to become part of the curriculum.

Speaking at a Westminster Education Forum in central London yesterday, Professor Winkler, who has led research into schools meals, warned: "Fringe shops are the competition, and they are winning. If we are serious about reforming school feeding, we can't accept that position.

"The shops offer an 'escape route' to pupils who don't want to eat in school."