Jamie blamed for killing off school dinners

A preoccupation with buzzwords such as 'local', 'fresh' and 'organic' when it comes to meals procurement in state schools is diverting attention from the real issue of improving nutritional standards, according to a leading supplier to the sector.

Catering supply giant Brakes said: "The government says schools should have a 'nutrition based' menu by highlighting 'hot meals', 'fresh', 'local' and 'organic'. But surely these are more aesthetic than nutritional?"

While there might be environmental benefits to using fresh and locally sourced food, there was no evidence that these were nutritionally superior to products that were frozen or sourced from further afield, it argued. "The key focus has to be nutritional standards, the right equipment, and trained staff to deliver this. Focusing on issues like local sourcing could potentially divert caterers from the key objective of implementing the nutritional food and drink standards."

Brakes also had concerns about whether the extra £220m the government was pumping into school meals provision over three years was sufficient to meet its targets. "For example, the government has recommended that portion sizes should go up. This will clearly increase the cost of a meal but does not appear to have been factored into the price."

It added: "The government also states that current average spend on ingredients per child is 50p for primary schools and 60p for secondary schools, yet it also states that this should be the minimum amount spent. So, effectively, there may be no increased spend on ingredients, and many school caterers will have some difficulty making a real difference on a budget that has not moved."

The comments came as the school meals provider Compass revealed it had seen a sales drop of several per cent since Jamie Oliver launched his attack on school dinners.

Compass said: "The industry is struggling with a downturn in demand and it's a direct consequence of the Jamie Oliver effect. At first, the problem was that parents were taking their kids out of school meals. The problem now is that they have phased out the chips and made changes too quickly and, as a result, there has been a sharp downturn in take-up, especially in secondary schools."