Brexit hits cost of school meals

A SCOTTISH council has warned that smaller portions of fruit and vegetables will be served on school dinner plates unless budgets are increased to account for the postBrexit slump in the value of the pound.

Aberdeen City Council says that the price of importing food from Europe has risen since the spending power of sterling dropped against the euro.

Long spells of wet weather in Europe have also been blamed for the rising costs of ordering in foods which cannot be grown in the UK.

In a report yesterday, the local authority warned of the financial pressures it faced in paying for fruit and vegetables.

It states: ‘Should budget funding not be sufficient to meet the anticipated increase in price, then the amount of fresh fruit and vegetables offered as part of school menus and other catering services will need to be reduced.’ It adds: ‘Imports play a vital role in the industry, reflecting in part the fact that the UK climate is unfavourable for the growth and cultivation of a number of different vegetables.’

Plans for a new fruit and vegetables supply contract covering Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire will be discussed by the city’s finance committee next week. The four-year contract could be worth up to £1.1million.

The report comes after a study from Imperial College London suggested Britons should eat ten portions of fruit and vegetables a day to help ward off killer diseases such as cancer.

Aberdeen City Council’s spending on fruit and vegetables in the financial year 2015-16 was £213,479.

Councillors will decide whether to carry out an EU tender exercise with Aberdeenshire Council next week.