North Yorkshire schools go free-range

North Yorkshire County Caterers, which runs the school dinners service across the region, will use free-range eggs from November. North Yorkshire's pupils consume 23,000 eggs a year in their dinners, especially as all pudding and cake sponges are now made freshly from scratch in every school. County councillor John Watson, North Yorkshire's executive member for schools and chair of the catering board said: "Changing to free-range highlights the council's concerns about the welfare of battery hens and supports the drive to provide our children with healthy and nutritious food." North Yorkshire's school dinners' service has already been singled out by the School Food Trust for its good practice using fresh, locally sourced and nutritious ingredients. The Trust has noted that 60% of all meat and poultry used in school dinners by North Yorkshire County Caterers is sourced from within the county boundary, 90% from the region and all from the North of England. All meat and poultry meets the requirement of being "home killed" and minimum UK welfare standards. 50% of all fruit and vegetables are also sourced from within the region with plans to increase this percentage in the years to come. The School Food Trust says that using local food has addressed the concerns of many parents and led to a four per cent increase in the number of school meals served in North Yorkshire, bucking national trends.