Concern over poor school meal options

Catering staff have ‘no option’ but to serve food in some primary schools even if they know there is a problem with it, says a union rep.

Stephanie Smith, Dundee rep of the GMB union for school catering staff, says staff at some schools feel they have to serve problem batches of dinners because they have no other stock immediately available.

And, she says, staff do not feel they have enough time before service to chase up alternative food sources.

Stephanie says the issue has arisen since supplier Tayside Contracts moved to mass-produced food in April, leaving some schools without cooking facilities or food stock.

Stephanie, who works in catering in a Dundee high school, says the quality of food currently offered in primary schools is ‘poor’ compared to when food was cooked on site.

Supplier Tayside Contracts has denied any drop in quality and says dining centres have always existed, there are now ‘just a few more’ of them.

In Dundee the number of dining centres increased from five to 18 when Tay Cuisine industrial kitchen was introduced – meaning 43% of schools in the city are now dining centres.

And in Angus 57% of schools now fall into that category, after the number increased from 29 to 33.

All dining centres rely on hub kitchens based in other schools, with meals cooked at Tay Cuisine in large batches, frozen, then sent to schools with ‘hub’ kitchens for reheating

Stephanie said: “Some of these (hub) kitchens are putting out around 800 meals, it’s a lot to be putting out. Then they’re sent hot to dining centres.

“By the time they see there is a problem with the potatoes, for example, and make a phone call to the hub, it’s just before service.”

A spokeswoman for Tayside Contracts said: “(Hub) kitchens receive deliveries for multiple days, there would always be an alternative to serve in the event of an emergency.

“There has been no change to the arrangements for the cooking of accompaniments. These are not part of the cookfreeze process and would always have been cooked fresh close to service time to maintain quality.”

Stephanie was not shocked to see photos of food served in schools that convinced a Dundee mum on benefits to refuse free meals. She said it’s exactly the ‘poor quality’ of food she and other catering staff have tried to fight.

The firm’s spokeswoman said: “Since the implementation of the cook-freeze school service delivery model, catering teams have been encouraged to feed back on the meals and to highlight any issues to their supervisor immediately so they can be rectified as quickly as possible.

“There were a few teething issues raised in the early stages which were quickly rectified.”

NOT PALATABLE: The GMB’s Stephanie Smith highlighted meal quality concerns.