It would cost councils an additional £100,000 to source chicken for school dinners from Scotland, according to the head of Tayside Contracts.
The Courier revealed in July that the local authority contractor buys in chicken from Thailand and the Netherlands for school dinners for Dundee, Angus and Perthshire pupils.
An investigation discovered that a little more than 14% of the grade A, indoor-reared poultry served up to pupils is sourced in the UK and none of it is Scottish.
Meanwhile, the Scottish Prison Service serves up fresh meat to jailed criminals supplied by “Scotland’s top catering butcher”, McLays Ltd.
At a meeting of the Tayside Contracts joint committee on Monday, managing director Iain Waddell said that sourcing local poultry for schools is a “major challenge”.
Responding to a question from Dundee councillor Jimmy Black, Mr Waddell said: “It is very difficult to get fresh chicken in Scotland, never mind in Tayside.
“At the moment one of the major supermarkets is using 10 million chickens and unfortunately Scotland only actually produces 10 million chickens. So it doesn’t take a genius to work out the challenge that is there.
“We have pressurised (supplier) Scotland Excel over a considerable period of time to try and work with the farming industry, both in Scotland and on a UK basis, in terms of can we get a source of supply.
“That’s why all our meat is from Scotland, but the chicken is still a challenge. There would be an additional cost of £100,000.
“We haven’t made a decision on that because we have to speak to education boards. Ultimately, it would be a decision for elected members.”
Mr Black told Mr Waddell he was “delighted with that answer”.
However, his fellow Dundee councillor Tom Ferguson responded: “If there is customer resistance to Chinese chicken, or whatever you want to call it, you do have a problem. That’s all I am saying.
“But you seem to be saying you will manage it and I’m quite prepared to accept that.”
Mr Waddell told councillors he would update them on progress at the next meeting of the committee.
He added: “I think it is quite a major issue for organisations like ourselves and council organisations about how we can work with the local community to try and make sure we maximise the use of Tayside produce and Scottish produce.”
The next meeting of Tayside Contracts joint committee will be held in the Perth council offices at 10.15am on Monday November 18.