Food inflation takes school meals past £2 barrier

The first schools have been forced to break through the psychologically important £2 barrier for school dinners, as food inflation heaps further woe on struggling school meals providers.

Caterers have been anxious not to break the £2 barrier, with meal uptake at primary school level only just turning the corner having fallen to a national average of 40% last year.

But Norfolk and Somerset County Services have both now revealed that they have been forced to push prices up because of food inflation.

The revelations came in the week that the Food for Life Partnership, which is run by the Soil Association with the support of the Local Authority Caterers Association, wrote to the Government warning that the school meals system is "near collapse" due to a lack of funding and rampant food inflation.

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By Janet Harmer

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