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Pupils eat in the canteen at an all-day school (archive image)
Photo: Franziska Kraufmann / picture alliance / dpa
In France, a dispute has broken out over meat-free meals in school canteens.
Agriculture Minister Julien Denormandie called on Twitter on Sunday: "Let's stop putting ideology on our children 's plates!" They should be given what they need to grow.
This also includes meat.
Plans from Lyon in south-east France had sparked the debate.
From Monday there will only be one menu for everyone in the school canteens, and that without meat.
Because of the corona pandemic, a new hygiene concept will apply there at the end of the winter holidays.
Everything should then run faster in the canteens.
According to the will of Denormandy, the prefect of the region should now deal with the case and obtain a reversal of the decision.
The city councilor for education, Stéphanie Léger, explained that the menu is not vegetarian - it contains fish and eggs, for example - and is the only thing that does not exclude any child.
Léger also emphasized that the measure was only temporary.
This concept was implemented in the city between May and July.
France's Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin also criticized the project.
On Twitter, he spoke of a scandalous ideology: the moralistic and elitist politics of the Greens excluded the common people and was an unacceptable insult to France's farmers and butchers.
"Many children only get meat in the school cafeteria," he added.
Lyon's mayor, Grégory Doucet, reacted promptly and assured that the measure to only offer one menu had only been taken for reasons of hygiene.
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joe / dpa / AFP