With a lot of processes set to change in 2025-26 impacting early years, it’s vital to stay up to date with the mandatory requirements for nursery managers.
Here’s the summary of the statutory food and nutrition guidance for early years that comes into force from September 2025.
In this article:
Food Guidance EYFS 2025: What’s new?
There hasn’t been an update of food and drinking guidance as such, as this is a brand-new document. Published in May 2025 and statutory for all early years providers as a part of the EYFS safeguarding and welfare requirements from September 2025.
First off, nothing in the latest food and nutrition guidance is unexpectedly radical. The core principle that “Where children are provided with meals, snacks and drinks, these must be healthy, balanced and nutritious” is already part of the EYFS welfare requirements, and it remains so.
The expected fundamentals aren’t going anywhere:
- Access to fresh drinking water
- Nutritious, well-balanced meals
- Promotion and application of good food and hygiene practices
The updated guidance helps you meet them more clearly and consistently.
Why does food guidance matter?
The updated EYFS food and nutrition guidance isn’t just another document to tick off. It’s a practical roadmap that impacts everyone in your setting.
For nursery owners and managers
This isn’t optional from September 2025. Because the guidance will become part of the statutory EYFS safeguarding and welfare requirements, you’ll be legally accountable for following it unless you have a strong reason not to. It helps you demonstrate clear safeguarding practice, maintain consistency across your team, and show Ofsted you’re meeting expectations.
For managers juggling compliance, quality standards and staff training, this guidance offers clarity rather than yet another burden.
For the children
Healthy food is more than just a lunchtime option. It’s fuel for learning, playing and developing. Having structured guidance ensures that every child, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds or with allergies, intolerances, or special dietary needs, receives the nutrition they need.
It levels the playing field so that mealtimes truly support growth, concentration, and wellbeing for all.
For the parents
This guidance gives families confidence and builds trust. When parents know exactly what their child will be eating, they can relax and feel reassured.
It also helps settings communicate clearly about how they handle special diets, allergies and celebrations, making parents feel like valued partners rather than bystanders.
2025 EYFS Food Guidance Summary
The document explains the formal legal requirement, shares clearer standards for what healthy food and drink looks like, and emphasises whole foods and balanced portions for growing children.
All of which, nutrition expert Louise Mercieca gives guidance on in our Blossom Podcast episode, Unlocking the power of Early Years nutrition.
Let’s look at a summary of what the food and Nutrition Guidance for Early Years shares:
Food guidance for 0–1 year olds
Babies should be offered breast milk, formula or suitable first foods in line with their developmental stage, with no added salt, sugar or honey*. Introduce a variety of textures and flavours slowly, always ensuring foods are safe to swallow.
Honey might feel like a strange one to exclude, but it’s because honey can contain bacteria, specifically Clostridium botulinum, which can cause infant botulism. Adults have no problem with honey as their digestive systems are more developed, but for babies it can be very bad for their health.
Food and drinking guidance for 1–5 year olds
Children should have a balanced diet with age-appropriate portion sizes across all food groups and access to fresh drinking water at all times. Sugary drinks and high-salt snacks should be limited to promote healthy growth.
It is important to know the true concept of a balanced diet for toddlers, not the traditional ‘something in each section of the plate for the four main food groups’ idea many of us were taught in our own school days! It is one of the common myths about EYFS nutrition.
Menu planning for nurseries
Menus should provide variety, balance and appeal, meeting nutritional needs across the week. Planning ahead helps nurseries consistently provide healthy meals, with portion guidance built in. Many managers find it easier to set and log meals for all children via their digital communication platform, making it simple to edit details and add important comments.
Nursery recipe examples
The guidance includes simple, practical recipes designed for groups of children, making it easier to make balanced meals without complicated ingredients.
Here are some examples recommended in the statutory guidance:
- Roasted aubergine and tomato curry
- Black bean and lentil koftas
- Cornflake chicken, sweet potato wedges and sweetcorn
- Chicken and vegetable pasta salad
Communication with parents
Clear information on meals, snacks and dietary policies helps parents understand what to expect and reassures them that children’s needs, including allergies, are met. It is useful to have easy access to this important medical information, to share with the nursery team and to update quickly should a child be under medical support for potential allergies or intolerances, or being tested for Coeliac Disease.
It is often misunderstood that Coeliac Disease is an intolerance or allergy. It isn't. Coeliac Disease is a serious autoimmune condition that can develop at any age. It's thought to have hereditary predispositions, but not always the case.
Did you know that for a child to be tested for Coeliac Disease, they have to have gluten in their system for 6 weeks? Meaning, a child could be in discomfort during their ‘testing period’ in nursery. The signs of Coeliac Disease in infants can show up in many different ways, not always through digestive issues.
A food and nutrition policy
The guidance explains that having a food and nutrition policy is ‘good practice’ and therefore isn’t mandatory. However, it is essential to ensure your food approach is shared with your parents. Having a black-and-white policy is often the easiest way to do this.
Your EYFS food and nutrition policy should cover all of the recommended important points, like:
- Your setting’s approach to food and healthy eating
- Your baby feeding guidance
- Celebrations like birthdays and special events
- Bringing in food from home (especially important if you have children with allergies like a nut allergy)
Cost-effective menu planning
Affordable healthy eating is achievable by using seasonal produce, planning portions carefully, and making the most of batch cooking to reduce waste.
An example is the suggestion to make your own fruit yoghurt by blending tinned or fresh fruit with plain yoghurt, in an attempt to creatively use safe-to-eat food that might go to waste.
Meeting the needs of all
The guidance supports nurseries to cater for children with allergies, intolerances or choice and cultural diets, ensuring every child has safe, nutritious meals suited to their individual needs.
This might include some of these common dietary requirements:
- Food allergies
- Food intolerances
- Vegetarianism
- Veganism
- Pescetarianism
- Religious preference
What’s next for nursery managers?
Here’s what you need to do to be compliant with the latest food guidance for EYFS from September 2025:
Review and revise menus
Check whether your menus and snack offerings align with the new portion sizes and traffic-light nutritional guidance. We recommend emphasising veggies, whole grains, and lean proteins.
Update policies and your food-nutrition strategy
Your food and nutrition policy should reflect the new expectations. Covering everything from weekly menu planning to celebrations and how you handle food brought in from home to celebrate a birthday or for packed lunch options.
Train or refresh your team
Make sure everyone knows what’s changed, and why it matters. A quick team refresher helps ensure consistent implementation across practitioners.
Engage parents proactively
With parents becoming more aware of the documentation change, expect questions. Use the communicating-with-parents section of the guidance to keep them in the loop. Utilise your Parent App to share this article as a way of updating parents on what they can expect. You can also share your food and nutrition policy with them digitally too!
Monitor, reflect and improve
Since Ofsted may refer to this guidance during EYFS inspections. It’s smart to document your planning and review process. That way, you can show you’re taking compliance seriously. Having all of your important information in one, easily accessible place is ideal.
The updated EYFS food guidance isn’t designed to pile on extra work. It’s there to reassure you that the healthy practices you already have in place are on the right track.
With Blossom, you can keep all your policies, food documents, and parent communications in one easy-to-manage place. So staying on top of the latest guidance is simple and stress-free.
Get in touch with one of our helpful team members today to talk about how Blossom can make your nursery management tasks easier.
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