John Swinney has expressed concern over the quality of frozen school meals served to children in Tayside following our investigation.
The Deputy First Minister said he plans to write to Tayside Contracts, who produce the lunches, to raise “legitimate” fears voiced by parents.
Dinners dished out to pupils in Dundee, Angus and Perth and Kinross were criticised by parents and catering staff over their ingredients and appearance.
The lunches are produced in a city factory before being flash frozen and delivered to schools where they are reheated.
Children in Perth and Kinross will also be served the reheated frozen school lunches after councillors voted in June to join their Tayside neighbours.
The decision, Conservative council leaders argued, was a result of the nationwide plan to offer all primary school children free school meals by August 2022.
Mr Swinney, MSP for Perthshire North, said the he hopes the issues raised about the quality of lunches are fully investigated by Tayside Contracts.
After a parent showed photographs of her child’s lunches, a union rep claimed catering staff had “no choice” but to serve the meals regardless of their quality.
Mr Swinney said: “The concerns highlighted by catering staff – in addition to the feedback I have received directly from parents – raise legitimate questions over the quality of food being served to children across Perth and Kinross.
“With the SNP government expanding free school meals to more children than ever, it is vital that local authorities ensure pupils are offered a nutritious, enjoyable and filling meal.
“Catering staff are on the frontline and are best placed to know the standard of our children’s food. It is therefore only right that the issues they have raised are treated seriously and fully investigated.
“To that end, I will be writing to Tayside Contracts to ask for their thoughts on the matter, and to enquire as to what steps they will be taking to ensure that children across Perth and Kinross will be served high quality food.”
Perth and Kinross Council SNP group leader, Councillor Grant Laing urged parents and carers to speak up over their concerns of “substandard food” in local schools.
He said: “The reports coming out of Dundee are sadly not surprising, and are exactly the sort of thing that the SNP council group warned about when we opposed the introduction of frozen school meals.
“The truth is that frozen school meals are hated by parents, pupils and catering staff. It is why thousands of individuals across Perth and Kinross signed a petition against their introduction, and is why the Tories and Lib Dems had to vote them in via the back door.
“The Tory administration must be held accountable for this failed policy. To that end, I would encourage any Perth and Kinross-based parents or catering staff who have knowledge of substandard food being served to speak up and make their concerns known.”
In response, Tayside Contracts said complaints they receive about the quality of school meals is “minimal”.
A spokeswoman added: “Every complaint is investigated and if necessary remedial action is taken.
“It is by combining this fast response to dissatisfied customers, allied to our pro-active approach to quality management, that we are able to deliver a superior meals service and learn lessons from those rare occasions where our service has fallen below the required standard.
“At present, meals produced by the central production unit (CPU) are not served in Perth & Kinross, with this service due to commence in early 2022.
“We have demonstrated previously through extensive taste tests with parents, pupils, councillors, senior council officers and journalists, there is no discernible difference in taste and quality between meals delivered using the CPU’s cook-freeze process and those prepared onsite.
“We have also established through the expert opinion of independent food and nutrition professional that meals delivered through the cook-freeze process have no less nutritional value than those meals cooked onsite.”
