Published on:
28
March 2013
Clackmannanshire schools embraced Scottish Schools Meals Week, which concluded recently, hailing it a resounding success.
The event raised awareness of school meals and at the same time promoted healthy eating.
The week began with pupils from Alva Primary School enjoying a visit to Clackmannanshire Council's Catering Service, Class Cuisine where 8500 school meals are made every week for primary schools in the county alone.
Pupils and teachers from the school were welcomed to Class Cuisine by Catering Manager Diane Mackenzie and her staff, and given a tour of the building, seeing at first hand how the meals were made prior to them being sent out to their school kitchens.
On the first three days of Scottish School Meals Week, one of the two lunchtime choices available each day were created by one of the three finalists in Scottish School Cook of the Year 2012 competition.
Education Convener, Councillor Ellen Forson and Provost Tina Murphy went along to St Bernadette's Primary School, Tullibody, during the week to try the menu of Scottish School Cook of the Year, Norrie Scott, of Tayside Contracts. It consisted of a main course of Moroccan lamb and mint sausage, followed by toffee apple and blueberry crumble and crème fraiche.
"It was delicious," said Councillor Forson. "And that seemed to be the verdict from the children too, with plenty of clean plates.
"Food waste represents nearly a third of household waste. We throw away 566,000 tonnes of food and drink from our homes every year, which costs the average household £430 a year - that's around £35 a month.
"If we stop wasting food the benefit to the planet would be the equivalent of taking one in five cars off the road. That's the strong message we wanted to get across to our school children in Clackmannanshire, and Scottish School Meals Week was the ideal opportunity to do that."
In addition to all the healthy eating, every primary school in Clackmannanshire was also guaranteed throughout the week to have a pupil winning a prize in a special word search competition, the search all based on the menus on offer and food waste.
Four pupils won a Kindle Fire, while their were 20 pupils each winning a £15 sports voucher, with at least one winner from every school. The winners will be presented with their prizes following the Easter holidays.