Victory in education for the vending industry looks unlikely now that Jamie Oliver has won the battle against junk food.

Not only has he won the battle, but the food terrorist has launched a steady campaign to change children’s eating habits.

Click here to get a video guide to the new rules (Dur: 2m22secs)

Vending machines are the latest victims in the government crackdown on school food with the new rules coming into power this September.

Automatic vending association (AVA) manager Jan Podsiadly believes the race to win over hearts and minds will brutally hamper the industry.

“The value of a vending machine is to provide the most popular products…..but to artificially restrict these means the business model is severely compromised.”

 Popular products such as sweets, chocolate bars and fizzy drinks will be blasted out of school.
 
“Children should certainly eat better…but you don’t do that by beating them with a stick,” says Mr Podsiadly.

The debate as to what food is healthy is essential to the new rules and is fiercely opposed by the Food and Drinks Federation (FDF) as well as the AVA.

“Banning foods on a category basis is counterproductive...you are not encouraging the industry to look at their products and innovate and provide the choice that children need,” says FDF spokesperson Christine Mulberry.

This view is not shared by all as smaller vending manufacturers look to take advantage of the new rules and shape the future of healthy vending.

Revive vending was established near Salisbury at the turn of the new millennium but managing director, Tim Varney, doesn’t believe choice is the best option.

“You have to stop taking the product and going where the product is until you get over the issue as food is very addictive,” says managing director Tim Varney.

Are healthy vending machines an enigma?  Click on the picture to see what Tim Varney has to say.

(Dur: 1m36secs)

Parents have been a strong force alongside Jamie Oliver for the battle for better food in schools.

Jackie Schneider from Merton Parents for better food in school has campaigned for healthier food in Wimbledon but believes that prohibition is required in the first instance.

“We are not looking at kids and families who have had years of health education, who understand nutrition and who understand cooking.”

Click here to here what parents have to say on junk food at school. (Dur: 50sec)

The industry captures over £1.5bn a year and is expecting children to vote with their feet by turning to local shops instead.

The industry has reason to be worried.  In research carried out exclusively for this article I interviewed 30 secondary pupils aged 13 to 16.

All of the pupils questioned agreed that a healthy lifestyle was important but still wanted mars bars instead of seeds in their machines.
 
“We did a comparison with a lot of the stuff in there that is supposed to be healthy eating that is actually just as bad as say a mars bar,” says Rose Wear, 16, from Redborne upper school in Bedfordshire.

The school is a specialist sports college and decided to change the products in the vending machines before new regulations come into force.

Debate was rampant amongst the school council when it came to the reality of the healthy vending machines.

“In our school we’ve got vending machines with nuts and sells but then we’ve got a canteen that sells pizza, chips, cakes, doughnuts and cookies,” says teenager Lawrence Alexander.