The most shocking revelation for those with a genuine interest in food is that schools are still serving up frozen beefburgers to children.
Let's face it, a frozen beefburger, purchased in bulk, doesn't sound as if it's been produced by a local farmer and handmade on the premises.
Some schools don't have kitchens, so they buy in food cooked or processed elsewhere. This has created a dislocation between what children are eating and their knowledge of where it comes from. Yet Highland, Moray and North Ayrshire councils source their meat locally and cook it on the premises – proving that it is possible to break out of long-term procurement contracts. I suspect this comes down to parent power.
Another illuminating aspect of this scandal is the baffling complexity of food procurement for schools, which involves a chain linking all 32 local authorities with contract agency Scotland Excel, large food-sector suppliers such as Brakes and a whole battery of producer/processor/manufacturers. No wonder there's consumer confusion – not to mention suspicion – about who is ultimately responsible for the authenticity of what's on our children's plates.
A public procurement reform bill is currently going through the Scottish Parliament, and one of its stated aims is to improve access to public-sector contracts, particularly for small and medium-sized businesses. This is what local food campaigners have been pressing for. But Mike Small of the Fife Diet wants to go one step further and establish a completely independent public food procurement body for Scotland that favours no big companies or retailers. His dream is for each local authority to have its own network of small, regional suppliers. If this sounds pie-in-the-sky to those with a more corporate mindset, Mr Small insists it is achievable and that it would create more resilient local economies to boot. His sentiments will chime with those parents who take an active role in deciding what their children eat.
Despite the outcry when schoolgirl Martha Payne's school meals blog was stopped by Argyll & Bute council, nothing has changed. Packed lunch, anyone?
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