Less than a fifth of school food is local

Schools north of the Border source less than a fifth of food from Scotland, according to new figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.

Scotland Excel, the shared national procurement service used by 28 or 32 Scottish councils, spends just 16 per cent of its budget for school food on food sourced in Scotland. A further 15 per cent is sourced elsewhere, and is then manufactured here.

Brian Whittle, spokesman for sport and wellbeing for the Scottish Conservatives, who obtained the data, said: “These figures show that a substantial amount of school food is still travelling thousands of food miles before reaching a child’s plate.”

Scotland Excel spends £42.5 million on school food for councils,with just £6.7m of that on school food from Scotland, and £6.4m on food that is manufactured in Scotland.