Jamie Oliver has suggested that parents should not have to carry the burden of school lunches.
The BBC highlighted the plight of a 14-year-old boy from Salford called Rizwan, who used to get free school meals at primary school but not now he is in secondary school.
He said that parents end up prioritising quantity over quality when it comes to packed lunches when it costs them £20-a-week per child, which "stacks up" with more than one child.
Rizwan told the Today programme it shouldn't be up to his parents, and presenter Nick Robinson put it to his guest, saying: "A burden parents shouldn't have to carry... Jamie Oliver is that your view?"
Celebrity chef Mr Oliver replied: "There'll be people listen to this guy and [think] look, it's a parent's responsibility to nourish their child but just to kind of give context to the conversation - to get a free school meal, a household not a person, the household has to earn less than £7,400 pounds.
"So think about that. So we are we are talking about the most vulnerable kids we are talking about how bad is bad."
He has called for the threshold to be opened for who qualifies as having a free school meal.
The chef turned author and campaigner said he has been tracking what children are eating in schools today, and has seen children turn up to school with nothing in their lunchboxes.
Currently, the children of parents who are on Universal Credit and have an annual income of no more than £7,400, or are on another benefit such as jobseeker's allowance, are eligible for free school meals.
Mr Oliver told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I think we'd all agree that there's a massive gap between the means test for free school lunches as it stands and Universal Credit.
"I think what the Government are saying is Universal Credit tethers off and can go up to sort of £30,000 - £40,000, but really we're talking about the bulk of them being around £14,000 per household."
Asked if he wanted the threshold to be met, he replied: "Well, now more than ever ... if they were to open the threshold of who would be allowed to have a free school lunch, that would also inject funds into the system that would also really help to guarantee a much better service across 26,000 schools in the country."
Mr Oliver famously took on the government in 2005 in a campaign to make school meals more healthy - which is most remembered for getting rid of turkey twizzlers.
And 17 years later, he says he is up for the fight with the current administration.
"I'm up for the fight"
— BBC Radio 4 Today (@BBCr4today) October 11, 2022
Chef and campaigner Jamie Oliver tells @bbcnickrobinson he doesn't believe Liz Truss - like previous PMs - will put child health first. He thinks there is too much marketing of junk food and wants more children to get free school meals in England#R4Today pic.twitter.com/MUHwM7qpsR
He added: "I'm up for the fight because I think having spent many, many years looking at schools, I think our teachers around Britain need to be supported better. They are like the secret weapon of this country."
Mr Oliver pointed out he has seen seven prime ministers come and go during his campaigning years.
He said former prime minister Boris Johnson had to "nearly die and have a child" before he saw his point of view over school lunches.
Asked about getting Mr Johnson "on side" after "having warred with him" over free school meals, the celebrity cook and restaurateur told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "He had to nearly die though and have a child to put him in the frame of mind to do the right thing."
Now, Mr Oliver will lock horns with Liz Truss.
But he said the current Prime Minister is a "ship that passes in the night".
He told the BBC: "I have no faith. We've been tracking her views for six, seven years - she's not going to change.
"She has a view. That's it. I think the older me can be a bit calmer because she will be a ship that passes in the night. And I'm actually quite calm about the whole thing.
"If you can create an environment where every child has the ability to thrive at school - we know in every way, shape and form - kids that have a lunch and a breakfast learn better.
"Their educational attainment is better. They do better, they get paid better, and they're more productive. But no one's taken it seriously yet."
And he's not convinced this Government will be the trailblazer for change.
"I just think kindness has to be injected through this party if they've got any chance," he said.
"And I don't know if they've got it in them to show this kindness and yes, being productive and pushing forward, of course, but at what cost?"
The cook, who used to go by the moniker of The Naked Chef, has denied he is part of the "anti-growth coalition".
The celebrity cook and restaurateur was asked on BBC Radio 4's Today programme if he is part of the movement coined by Prime Minister Liz Truss.
He replied: "Completely not. I've spent a lifetime not only employing over 20,000 people but travelling around the world saying how brilliant Britain is.
"That's what we need to do as a country. We have an incredible country but just doing quick trade deals to the lowest common denominator and threatening British farming and British producers is completely bonkers."
He added: "The reality is, if you speak to the best minds in economics, in the country, in the world, they will tell you that if you output healthier kids, you're going to have a more productive, more profitable country, better GDP. To do that, you have to think in 10 to 20 years, not three-year cycles."
