REASSURANCE HAS BEEN GIVEN to parents of children taking school meals in Moray following adverse reports on the provenance of food products used in schools.
Hundreds of pupils each day take their lunch in school canteens – prompting questions from parents after reading national headlines about the quality of food being served.
However, Moray Council say that the vast majority of ingredients use in Moray schools are sourced locally. That includes all meat products which are supplied by a Forres family butcher who sources meat from abattoirs in Speyside and Dingwall, while seasonal vegetables are grown on a Moray farm.
The Council said that the butcher also supplies around half the Council’s chicken purchase with the remainder coming from a UK supplier – and not, as is the case with some regions, from overseas.
Egg supplies come from a farm near Elgin while the milk served to schoolchildren comes from a dairy herd near Nairn, while bread products are sourced from a Huntly bakery firm while fish is sourced from Peterhead.
A council spokesman said: “We have a very good record when it comes to sourcing food products locally and it is something of which we are proud.
“We use very little convenience food and all the meals we served in our schools are made from raw ingredients. For example, our sausages and hot dogs are made to our own recipe, we make our own chicken and fish goujons and we make our own sausage rolls and some pizzas.
“The fact that we served good, fresh and wholesome meals is reflected in the fact that the uptake in school dinners among primary children has risen from 39% in 2008 to more than 64% last year.”