THE quality of school meals that are now enjoyed by record numbers of Hampshire schoolchildren has always been a priority for Hampshire County Council Catering Services, HC3S. I was therefore disappointed to have a Daily Echo article from Monday, November 14 brought to my attention (“Countryside Alliance report reveals reliance on foreign suppliers for school meals”) claiming that only 41 per cent of the school meal budget in Hampshire is spent on UK produce – this is untrue.

It would seem that the figures provided to the Countryside Alliance in response to their Freedom of Information request, were incorrectly reported to the media.

HC3S spent over 41 per cent of its budget on local and regionally produced food alone, and advised the Countryside Alliance that nationally sourced products would be well in excess of 50 per cent of the total. In fact, almost 70 per cent of the total budget was spent on UK produce in 2009-10.

This is a significant improvement on the figures incorrectly reported by the Countryside Alliance, and puts Hampshire County Council among the top local authorities in the country for procuring British food.

We pride ourselves in Hampshire for the work that we do with local producers, and support the local and UK growers and suppliers wherever we can. In fact, HC3S’s use of local produce and relationship with suppliers recently scooped national recognition from Cost Sector Catering with the award of ‘UK Education Caterer of the Year’.

Hampshire school meals are made from ingredients sourced from around 26 local suppliers, including locally grown fruit and vegetables, pork and beef from Hampshire farms, free range eggs from the New Forest and apple juice from Selborne. Suppliers also ensure all fish is from wellmanaged, sustainable fisheries.

This is in addition to the various other British ingredients that are used.

Hampshire’s school meals are indeed bursting with local, regional and UK produce and this is among the reasons that around 32,000 pupils in Hampshire will be tucking into a tasty and nutritious school meal this lunchtime.

KEN THORNBER, Leader Hampshire County Council.