Councils across Courier Country are reviewing their school dinner arrangements because there may not be room for all pupils when free meals are introduced next year.
Some local authorities are even predicting they will have to upgrade their kitchen equipment to cope with the additional demand.
From January next year, all Scottish pupils in primaries one to three will be given free school meals. The Scottish Government says the move will save families around £330 a year and make young children healthier.
It will be introduced in England in September this year.
Many dining halls are already full or require more than one sitting to ensure all children get fed and some councils are even warning they may have to extend their lunch hour so all children who get school dinners can be fed.
Figures released under Freedom of Information revealed that some schools in Angus already have three lunch sittings because of high numbers while Clackmmannanshire Council said it is “feeding more than the seating available”.
Of other local authorities in Tayside, Fife and the Forth Valley, only Perth and Kinross Council does not foresee any problems.
A spokeswoman said: “Our primary school pupils all sit in the dining hall at lunchtime whether they are having packed lunches or school dinners so, regardless of what they are having, there is room for them all.”
Other councils are carrying out reviews to see if they will have to change their lunch arrangements to ensure all children who want school dinners, or are entitled to them, will have somewhere to eat them.
A Dundee City Council spokesman said: “We are in the process of reviewing our dining arrangements and we will announce them in due course.”
Keith Breasley, service manager in Fife Council’s hospitality services department, said: “We are surveying dining rooms in Fife on a school by school basis in order to identify any potential issues with dining capacity or time allocated for lunch service.”
Stirling Council said they may have to introduce staggered lunches and buy extra kitchen equipment as a result of the changes.
A spokeswoman said: “We anticipate an increase in the numbers of school lunches served every day to P1 to P3 pupils of around 1,700 pupils, to total 2,700 pupils across the Stirling Council area, from January 2015.”
A Scottish Government spokesman said: “We will work in partnership with Cosla over the next year to explore how any practical implications will be addressed.”
Some councils, such as East Lothian, say that nearly half of their schools have no room for any additional pupils receiving school meals.