North Yorkshire freezes school meal prices

The charge for a meal is being fixed at £2.00 with the discounted charge of £1.80 for siblings. North Yorkshire County Caterers, the County Council's catering arm running the school meal service, says it is delighted to be able to keep charges down while increasing the quality of food being served to children. County councillor Jim Clark, North Yorkshire's executive member for schools and chair of North Yorkshire County Caterers, said that although North Yorkshire had a higher than average uptake of school meals already, the county wanted to do everything possible to encourage even more families to buy a good meal made from fresh local produce for their children when at school. He said: "We are very pleased to be able to keep our school meal prices steady. It is a priority for the County Council to help the county's families during the economic downturn and also to make sure that our children are provided with the highest quality nutrition. Good dietary habits are essential to the well-being of children and young people and the take-up of school meals is now also a factor in school inspection arrangements." Meal take-up has been consistent despite the introduction of tough new nutritional standards for school food. Last year North Yorkshire County Caterers increased primary school meal take up, showing growth on the previous year against the national average of 39% to reach an overall take up of 42.6%. Secondary schools also had a good year with income up over budget by £250,000 and a meal take up of 40% compared to the national average of 35%. Despite the price freeze the County Council intends that nutritional standards will continue to improve. North Yorkshire County Caterers employs a nutritionist who analyses and advises on the ingredients used in meal preparation to ensure a nutritional balance over the full menu cycle. It also uses focus groups of cooks and children together who test the attractiveness of each menu item. Two thirds of all meat and poultry used in North Yorkshire County Caterer's menus is sourced from within North Yorkshire and more than 90% comes from the wider region.