Swinney wants school dinner food to be sourced locally
THE Scottish Government has highlighted an ongoing review of school food and drink nutrition.
The move is looking at whether councils can source more of their food from Scotland.
It will also examine whether standards of nutrition introduced almost a decade ago need to be updated.
Last week, a BBC Scotland report questioned the fact local authorities buy a lot of their food from other countries.
John Swinney, the Education Secretary, said he wanted school food to be “sourced as locally as possible”.
Experts from Food Standards Scotland, NHS Health Scotland and Education Scotland are already looking at where provision can be improved.
The review was launched in January and has been publicised ahead of International School Meals Day on March 9.
Mr Swinney said Scotland already has very strict regulations governing food and drink served in schools, but wants to look at what more could be done.
He said: “School food matters, in terms of what children eat and what they learn about.
“With almost 366,000 school meals served up in Scottish schools every day, we must ensure nutritional standards are the best they can be.
“I also want children, especially primary pupils, to have as many of their ‘five a day’ as they can and for food to be sourced as locally as possible.
“Since our internationallyadmired school meal regulations were introduced in 2008, the scientific evidence and dietary advice has changed. Nearly a decade on, the time is right to review whether school food provision can be further improved.
“The short-life working group I have established is examining the scientific and technical detail of the latest evidence and advice regarding nutritional standards.
“Once that group reports back this summer, I will then seek the views of young people, parents, industry, catering and other stakeholder groups before taking forward any potential changes.”
The BBC Scotland investigation found Scottish councils spent more than £1 million on chicken from Thailand to be used in school meals last year, with turkey, beef and ham also bought from around the world.