This nostalgic school dinner favourite we all loved as kids is coming to supermarkets

school dinner
(Image credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto)

If you're feeling nostalgic, you'll be delighted to know that Turkey Twizzlers are making a comeback this week.

Turkey Twizzlers were discontinued in 2005 after celebrity chef Jamie Oliver campaigned to have them removed from school menus.

But now food company Bernard Matthews have revamped the much-loved recipe, to bring us a healthier version.

The new and improved Turkey Twizzlers will now feature double the turkey meat of the original.

READ MORE: 19 retro school dinner foods that take us straight back to that dining hall

They'll be available in two flavours, Original Tangy Tomato and Chilli Cheese. They'll go on sale from Thursday 20th August.

Bernard Matthews' Marketing Director David Leigh said, "We have been discussing the return of the Twizzler for some time.

"Obviously we'd like the product to go into schools, but for the minute, we've focused on going into what I guess you'd call mass market retail."

Turkey Twizzlers

Shoppers can now pick up two different flavours of the Turkey Twizzler. (Credit: Bernard Matthews)

So whilst the future of school lunches is uncertain, you can definitely enjoy the new Turkey Twizzlers at home.

Addressing the health concerns of the meaty treat, David revealed that the the old Turkey Twizzler was just 34% meat and had 137 kcal, and the new version was 70% meat and had 87 kcal.

He added, "If you look at our product now and let's say you compared, say, two pork sausages to two Twizzlers, there's 83% more saturated fat in two average pork sausages compared to two Twizzlers.

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"So we have spent a lot of time making sure that we are delivering a healthy, a significantly healthier, product than it was before. It is very much a different product."

The company worked with a nutritionist to ensure the new version was "a really balanced product" and could be enjoyed as part of a balanced diet.

"It is crucial for us that it is a really flavoursome product that people enjoy eating and it complements the high-protein content you normally get in turkey,"

Lucy Buglass
Digital Writer

Lucy Buglass is a Digital Writer for What's on TV, Goodto.com, and Woman&Home. After finishing her degree in Film Studies at Oxford Brookes University she moved to London to begin her career. She's passionate about entertainment and spends most of her free time watching Netflix series, BBC dramas, or going to the cinema to catch the latest film releases.