Less than a fifth of food served in schools that is bought through a national procurement service is from Scotland, according to new figures which have prompted concerns about pupils’ health and the environmental impact.
Chicken from Thailand, turkey from Brazil and pears from China are among the items served up in school dining halls across Scotland.
Scottish Conservative analysis of data obtained through a freedom of information request found that 16 per cent of food sourced by Scottish councils between July 2017 and June 2018 - through the shared national procurement service Scotland Excel - was produced in Scotland. Another 15 per cent of food sourced by councils through Scotland Excel’s frameworks was manufactured in the country.
This means that under a third (31 per cent) of the food that councils source through Scotland Excel is produced or manufactured in Scotland.
The Tories said that, of £42.5 million of school food councils bought through Scotland Excel, £6.7 million was sourced from Scotland.
Brian Whittle, Conservative spokesman for sport and wellbeing, said: “These figures show that a substantial amount of school food is still travelling thousands of food miles before reaching a child’s plate.
“One of the key elements in tackling health inequalities and the stubborn attainment gap surely should be ensuring the high-quality food produced right here in Scotland makes its way to the Scottish schools’ dining halls.”
He added: “That is evidently not the norm and needs to change, to support our children’s health and wellbeing, to support our food producers and to cut back on an unnecessary carbon footprint.”
While not all school food is purchased through Scotland Excel, 28 of the 32 local authorities do use the procurement service, the Tories said.
A spokesperson for Scotland Excel said: “Scotland Excel does not buy food on behalf of schools nor control local authority budgets for this. We develop and manage frameworks which Scotland’s councils can use to source a range of goods and services - and this includes arrangements for frozen food, groceries, milk, fresh meats and fish.
“Almost 31 per cent of the money spent by local authorities through our frameworks is spent on food that has been produced or manufactured in Scotland. Over the past three years, the value of this has increased by 48 per cent as a result of our efforts to create opportunities for Scottish food companies to bid for contracts.”
A Scottish government spokesman said: “Scotland has an outstanding natural larder and we want everyone to make the most of the food and drink produced on our doorstep.
“While it is for local authorities to decide how they buy food that is healthy, nutritious, affordable and to the highest standards, we have been working hard with the Scottish food industry, Scotland Excel, and local authorities, with good progress being made to source locally.”
He added: “The Food for Life programme is operating across 11 local authorities in Scotland, supporting the provision of more locally sourced, healthier food being served to the local schools.
“We are now investing £400,000 to expand the programme to reach more schools and target all 32 local authorities.”
Earlier this week, it emerged that more than a fifth of pupils in Glasgow benefited from free school meals being served during the summer holidays this year.
