Council reaffirms support for traditional school cooking
Monday, October 23 2006
Scottish Borders Council’s Executive reaffirmed its commitment to return school meal production to traditional production at a meeting on 17 October.
A number of primary school kitchens switched to the preparation of regenerated (frozen) meals several years ago, as the high cost of refurbishing traditional kitchens could not be met at the time.
Speaking about the recent decision, Education Executive Spokesman, Councillor Andrew Farquhar, said today, “Councillors, like many parents, are keen to see traditional kitchens re-instated in schools that used to have them, but we recognise that budgets are limited, and this can’t be done overnight. In addition, we are aware that results from schools that have recently had kitchen conversions show that the traditional approach might not always be the best answer. While one school saw demand for school meals rise substantially, the other one saw only the smallest change - so we need to be sure we’re doing the right thing.”
Members of the Executive agreed that officials should come back to Council with more information on the recent conversions in June 2007 to help plan for a future programme of kitchen updates. In the meantime they noted that a new contract for regenerated meals, made from fresh ingredients and by traditional means, is to be awarded shortly.
A recent taster session of food from the new supplier was voted a great success by all who attended. The food had high nutritional values and tasted like fresh, home cooking.
Cllr Farquhar concluded, “This is an important step towards providing even better and healthier school meals for Borders pupils and it will reaffirm the Council as one of the leaders in the national Hungry for Success improved schools meals programme.”
For further information, please contact Leona Bendall, SBC Education Communications and Policy Manager, on 01835 826592.
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