Below is the full text of her letter to the Labour MP for Wakefield:
Dear Ms Creagh,
I am to writing to you regarding your comments to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Owen Patterson MP, in the House of Commons on the 11th February 2013. In the debate, you suggested that supermarkets had acted with speed and a degree of transparency on the recent issue of horsemeat being found in meat based products and at the same time expressed your disappointment that the hospitality industry and caterers had not been as “candid”.
On behalf of LACA (formerly known as the Local Authority Caterers Association) may I take this opportunity to stress to you that education caterers are taking this issue extremely seriously. As is good practice, we will continue to work with procurement and public health colleagues in local authorities to ensure that the quality of food served in schools remains an absolute priority. Local authority-maintained schools are subject to robust nutritional standards which provide a safety net for both caterers, and
children and young people in schools. In addition, we have extremely stringent procurement processes in which great emphasis is placed on quality, as well as traceability. I cannot however comment on the food provided in all Academies and Free Schools, as both are officially exempt from the robust nutritional standards that apply to local authority maintained schools. This is an example of why one set of standards across all schools is very important, and something that LACA has been campaigning for.
Currently the Food Standard Agency (FSA) is underlining what is already good catering practice and should be in place regardless of recent revelations. We have always fully endorsed these standards of practice to ensure the pupils whom we cater for in schools receive the best possible quality of food. As education caterers, we are limited in the amount of direct action we can take in terms of testing the food we serve, as this is undertaken by public health authorities. However, in light of recent revelations, caterers are working closely with sector suppliers who are taking immediate action to test sources of supply.
Rest assured that we are taking every possible action, as high quality school food has always been and
remains our top priority.
LACA has worked for over 20 years to support the catering managers in local authorities, private contractors and individual schools who provide school meals services throughout the education sector in England, Scotland and Wales. We are the largest supplier of school catering in the UK, covering 11 regions throughout the UK, catering for 20,000 schools and providing over 3 million school meals every day. For further information and updates, please visit our website (http://www.laca.co.uk/).
Yours sincerely,
Anne Bull
LACA National Chair