Credit crunch threatens school lunch

9:18am Tuesday 8th July 2008

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A HEADTEACHER says she could be forced to increase the price of school dinners because of the credit crunch.

Debra Mansfield, from Millbrook Combined School, has warned lunches at the school could rise by 15p a day because of the increased cost of food and fuel.

Lunch at the school in Mill End Road currently costs £1.70. But if it goes up in September Miss Mansfield is also worried it could cause parents to swap hot dinners for a packed lunch.

The number of children eating school dinners dropped nationally in 2005 when celebrity chef Jamie Oliver campaigned to have healthier food served to students.

Millbrook has managed to slowly increase the number of pupils coming back to the canteen and is keen to attract more.

Miss Mansfield said: "At the moment we're trying to keep our meals the same price, which is £1.70 a day, but we're being put under pressure by our caterers to put that up because they're obviously having increased costs to provide the meals, so it's a bit of a catch 22.

"We want more children to have school dinners but parents are already saying they can't afford it.

"It's fine I think if you have got one child but as you get families the cost does start to build up."

Miss Mansfield added she wanted to introduce incentives for parents to take up school dinners, such as discounts for siblings, but cannot do this until the lunch queue numbers increase.

Her concerns come in the week that the Local Authority Caterers Association, the body which represents catering managers and suppliers, warned school meals could soar in price because of the credit crunch and declining numbers of children eating them.

As well as the spiralling cost of fuel and food, caterers are also being put under pressure by new nutrition targets, which come into force in September.

From then kitchen staff will have to provide details of the calories, fat and nutrients in each dish they serve in primary schools, which will be extended in 2009 to secondary schools.

Calvin Hanks, managing director of High Wycombe based caterers Food For Thought, which provides Millbrook's meals, said: "Food costs have gone through the roof, fuel costs have gone through the roof. It's going to push the prices up. Unfortunately we have to pass that on because we can't absorb it."