Click HERE for a full list of affected schools and an archive of school hygiene articles

A LEADING union today expressed its concern over school catering following the Daily Echo's exclusive revelations yesterday about food hygiene in Hampshire schools.

We highlighted more than 40 schools across Southampton and Hampshire where health inspectors had criticised standards.

A catalogue of problems, including evidence of mice infestations, out-of-date food on kitchen shelves, mould and slug trails, were highlighted in the inspectors' reports.

Now UNISON, the public service union, has joined the debate.

Julie Murdoch, Hampshire branch secretary, said: "Our concerns in school catering have always been that the staff are being expected to provide high quality food and standards on low wages and budgets.

Testament "This is usually down to the fact that profit is now an issue for these catering providers. It's a testament to the staff that things are not worse than they are."

Meanwhile, the local representative of the Parent Teacher Association has called for parents across our area to be reassured that their children are safe following the findings obtained by the Daily Echo under the Freedom of Information Act.

Margaret Morrissey, regional spokesman of the national PTA, said the findings were very serious.

"Parents will be very concerned. They'll want some very specific answers," she said.

"They'll want to be reassured that there's a drastically swift improvement.

"What you have to remember, particularly with primary school children, is very young children don't have a tremendously high immune system. They can go down much quicker than some of us tougher, older people.

"The whole idea of school meals is that they're good and fresh."

Ms Morrissey added: "I think it's absolutely unforgivable for kitchens to have mice in them.

"The whole reason for getting things like that in our buildings is food being left around - it's not being stored properly or it's not being cleaned properly.

"I think parents should be routinely informed about these findings. Parents are highly criticised by schools if we send our children in with snacks which are considered unhealthy.

"They're expecting us to provide the highest quality and we expect the same. We've all got to be very transparent about it.

Guidelines "I think there have got to be extremely clear guidelines by the local authorities and they've got to be very clear that the contractors they're allowing to work in school kitchens are following these guidelines."

However, Southampton City Council and Hampshire County Council have told the Daily Echo that parents have nothing to be worried about.

Gavin Derrick, in charge of food safety in Southampton, said levels of cleanliness in school kitchens are above average.

Mr Derrick added that if an inspector visiting any kitchen felt that food was not being prepared safely it would be closed immediately or action would be taken on the spot to rectify that problem.

Ken Thornber, leader of Hampshire County Council, reassured parents that any issues raised in the environmental health reports had already been dealt with or were scheduled to be dealt with.