Mother hits out at nursery for sending her son, 3, home with a note banning strawberry-flavoured yogurt from his packed lunch 

A mother has been left baffled after her toddler allegedly came home from nursery with a note banning his strawberry-flavoured yoghurt from his packed lunch. 

Katelan Martin, 24, from Spalding, spotted the handwritten message in three-year-old Jeffrey’s lunchbox next to his uneaten Aldi Tube It yoghurt on 16 September. 

It read: ‘Unfortunately due to our policies we can no longer allow flavoured yogurts, it must be natural Greek style only.’

The mum-of-two initially ‘laughed’ when she saw the note, quizzing why such a simple snack had been singled out. 

She noted how Jeffrey had been coming home with uneaten food during his first few weeks at nursery, but Katelan had assumed he plainly did not want it. 

‘I opened it [the lunchbox] in the car to give him whatever was left over as a snack and that’s when I saw the note,’ she explained. ‘When I got home after the school run I read it.’

‘I laughed and I phoned my mum and showed her the note and said what is this about, it’s literally just a strawberry yoghurt.’

Katelan had previously been informed by nursery staff about new government guidance on healthy eating, which is due to come into force in September 2027. 

However, the mother believes the nursery is introducing some of the measures ahead of the deadline. 

She recalled: ‘I said “you won’t have to worry about my packed lunches because we eat pretty healthily anyway.”‘

On the day Jeffery was sent home with the note, his lunch had included a whole satsuma, a banana, carrot sticks, cucumber slices, a jam sandwich, raisins, and the yoghurt.   

Katelan said: ‘We eat a very balanced, healthy lifestyle at home.

‘When you’re sending a child into a nursery setting I can’t exactly give them what we’d eat at home in a packed lunch box. Packed lunches are supposed to be quick, easy, convenient and relatively cheap.

She added: ‘One of those tubs of Greek yogurt goes out of date three days after being opened and it’s double the price of a pack of [the kids yoghurt] for example so you would have to buy two tubs of those a week.

‘You’re looking at at least quadruple the price.’

Katelan, who has a four-year-old daughter, Betty, also worries that strict rules around food could have an impact on how young children view what they eat.

She said: ‘I’m worried about the effects that this is going to have on him if he’s being told that a strawberry flavoured yogurt is a bad food and he can’t eat it.

‘I wonder about the detrimental effect that is going to have on his vision and his view of food.

‘I think it is demonising food, we live in a world where unfortunately a lot of people suffer with eating disorders.’

She added: ‘Are we really setting our children up to have a good experience with food as adults if they’re being told that something as simple as a flavoured yogurt is no longer allowed?

‘My kids eat healthy anyway but then to be told they’re not allowed flavoured yogurts, I do think it’s extreme.’

Government guidance due to take effect in September 2027 states that schools can serve lower-fat natural plain yoghurt and plain lower-fat fromage frais with school dinners.

For packed lunches, it advises schools not to allow sugary drinks, crisps and confectionery, while encouraging healthy choices.

However, the Department for Education stressed that settings have always been able to set their own rules for packed lunches.

A spokesperson said: ‘The guidance we provide to early years settings is to help them make sure young children get the tasty, nutritious meals they need to grow and thrive – including limiting foods too high in sugar.

‘Settings have always set their own rules on packed lunches. Our guidance doesn’t change that – it just helps them to encourage healthy choices, as well as including advice on cost effective healthy food so changes work for every family.’

Daily Mail has contact Aldi for comment.