Catering staff at a secondary school in Essex have been banned from serving triangle shaped flapjacks after one was thrown at a pupil.

According to reports, canteen staff at Castle View School in Canvey Island, Essex, have been told to cut flapjacks into rectangles or squares rather than triangles.

It is understood that the triangular version was banned after one was thrown, hitting a boy in the face.

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Critics have pointed out that a square flapjack has more sharp corners than a triangle shaped one.

Despite this, Essex County Council said the ban was "not a county council decision" but confirmed the incident and the decision on behalf of the school.

A spokesperson for Castle View School, Canvey Island, said: “I can confirm that the texture and shape of the flapjacks were reviewed following an isolated accident last week.”

This is not the first time flapjacks have been banned for being a risk.

Famously, Education Secretary, Michael Gove, was stopped from taking flapjacks - given to him by his wife - into a cabinet meeting in 2011.

He was detained by security at the time and told the flapjacks were a security risk and would not be allowed in the cabinet room.

A spokesman for the Health and Safety Executive said: "We often come across half-baked decisions taken in the name of health and safety, but this one takes the biscuit.

"The real issue isn't what shape the flapjacks are, but the fact that pupils are throwing them at each other - and that's a matter of discipline, and has got nothing to do with health and safety as we know it.

"We're happy to make clear that flapjacks of all shapes and sizes continue to have our full backing."