Gammon is replacing beef on the menus for school dinners as caterers choose less expensive meats in response to rapidly rising prices.
Additionally, some caterers are substituting foreign-grown fruit for British meat, raising worries about the quality of the food being served.
For its Thursday roast meals, Laira Green Primary School in Plymouth used to provide regional Cornish beef, but has now shifted to less expensive gammon.
Additionally, turkey is being served in place of chicken.
The same catering business, which provides food to over 70 schools around the city, is changing its menus in reaction to price increases, according to a report from the BBC.
However, she added: “Some students stopped eating roast dinner, and when we asked them why, they said they really missed the roast beef and Yorkshire pudding.” Head teacher Bernadette Kennedy expressed her happiness that the school could continue provide a “healthy roast supper.”
In the midst of a storm of price increases and supply chain problems, Laca, the school caterers’ organization for England and Wales, claims that schools are at “breaking point.”
More than 60 of the 160 catering firms that responded to its most recent poll indicated they had already converted from British meat to less expensive international meat or were planned to do so shortly.
Others are providing various fruits and veggies.
Recent Retail Price Index data for food purchased by typical consumers revealed that the average cost of a roasting joint of beef had increased by 9.8% to £11.34 over the year to April while the cost of chicken had increased by 10.4% to £3 per kilo.
However, caterers are reporting even more drastic price increases for numerous goods of between 20 and 30%, with changes sometimes occurring every week.
The cost of minced beef rose by 11 per cent overnight in recent days, Laca said, while one catering company saw the cost of 10kg of prepared potatoes increase from £10.46 to £15.50.
90% of respondents stated that they had trouble finding certain goods, with chicken, bread, and oil being the most often cited as being hard to get.
Due to problems with the supply chain, almost 80% of caterers had to alter their menus or limit the number of menu options available.
Members of Laca, who provide 80% of the school food in England and Wales, attributed the price increases to the effects of Covid, the conflict in Ukraine, and rising fuel prices.
The amount the government pays schools to fund baby free school meals rose in April by 7p per child per day to £2.41.
Despite this, more than 60% of respondents expressed worry that pricing pressures may force them to think about lowering the requirements they fulfill in the future months.
Laca requests that ministers raise the payout from £2.41 to £2.47 each meal, with an annual rise to account for inflation.
Jacquie Blake, the national chair of Laca, stated that these findings “should function as an urgent wake-up call.” Numerous school caterers are reaching their limit.
Without sufficient financing, the most disadvantaged kids would lose out on what may be their last hot meal of the day.
