The Jamie Oliver effect is finally encouraging more youngsters to tuck into healthy school meals across Tayside, according to the latest figures.
Tayside Contracts’ annual review of the service provided in the primaries and secondaries of Angus, Dundee and Perth and Kinross has reported big increases in youngsters taking dinners in school.
School lunches hit the national headlines when their poor quality was exposed by TV chef Jamie Oliver.
His call for more nutritious and appetising food went all the way to 10 Downing Street and school catering services throughout the UK pledged to deliver higher standards.
Tayside Contracts has defended the quality of its meals but uptake did drop when the region’s youngsters initially turned up their noses at healthier menus.
The report to Monday’s meeting of Tayside Contracts’ joint committee in Perth said the decline in demand bottomed out in 2009.
Since then, uptake has grown steadily and in 2012-13 increased by 3.1% to 4.483 million.
The review, by managing director Iain Waddell, says: “It is hugely encouraging to report significantly larger numbers of school children are eating healthier meals, a successful trend which we are committed to sustaining and improving.”
The growth in primary schools was due to the large number of paid meals sold up 3% to 1.680 million and supplemented by an increase in the uptake of free meals up 1% to 752,000.
The secondary sector recorded a big growth, with paid meals rising by 19% to 1.407 million and free meals increasing by 6% to 438,000 due to an increase in eligible pupils.
“The considerable efforts made by both Tayside Contracts and council employees to promote and enhance the school meals service is clearly reflected in the achievement of this level of sustained improvement,” Mr Waddell said.
“The uptake of school meals shows a very encouraging increase to 46% in the primary sector and also to 38% in the secondary sector, bringing them into line with the national average.
“The secondary sector, in particular, has traditionally been well below the national average, so this improvement is very gratifying.”
Tayside Contracts meals’ costs were still significantly lower than the Scottish average in 2012-13 at £2.38 compared to £3.18 and the food element was 69p, a rise of 4.5% on the previous year and less than the average food cost in Scotland, which was 83p.
The subsidy cost per meal to the three Tayside councils has been below the national average for the last two years and has been further reduced to 57p, almost a third of the Scottish average.