Silver service!

FRESH EGGS . . . (left to right) Michelle Heaton (cook), Sadie Kay, Morgan White, Councillor Masud, Jack Pilling, Aqeeb Ali and Diane Crates (cook supervisor).

SCHOOL children in Oldham are enjoying award-winning grub at lunchtime.

The council’s catering service has become only the third local authority team in the country to land a Silver award from Food For Life.

Dedicated staff make around 14,000 meals each day for 98 local primary and special schools.

Take-up of school meals in the borough’s primary and special schools is currently 51.9 per cent, 10 per cent higher than the national average. Secondary schools arrange their own catering.

The award scheme is designed to help caterers give their customers a reassurance of food quality.

To achieve the Silver award, staff have to ensure their school menus serve a range of local, organic and fair trade food, use high welfare chicken, eggs and pork products, avoid using fish from the Marine Conservation Society’s ‘fish to avoid’ list and display information about where the food came from.

These standards build upon Bronze requirements which stipulate that meals must contain no undesirable food additives; 75 per cent of dishes are freshly prepared; meat meets UK welfare standards and eggs are from cage-free hens; menus are seasonal; catering staff are well-trained, and no GM ingredients are used.