Conversations around getting local food produce into school dinners are taking place in Tayside.
Meetings have been held between members of the National Farmers Union (NFU) Scotland and Tayside Contracts, which supplies meals to Dundee, Angus and Perth and Kinross local authority schools.
They discussed the necessary steps food producers have to take to enter the supply chain, at a meeting in Perth with local farmers.
A similar meeting was held in Angus in March but Tayside Contracts was unable to confirm if any of those producers have since been accepted as suppliers.
‘A step in the right direction’
Kate Maitland, NFU Scotland’s east central regional manager, said: “The meeting in Perth was the second of two to take place in the region.
“It’s a step in the right direction to try to integrate the amount of Scottish food within our council provisions.
“The Tayside region has fantastic food production, from seasonal berries and sweet fruits to all-year-round produce such as potatoes, carrots and peas.”
It would be ‘great’, she said, to see those supplied to nearby schools but the process of making that a reality was ‘complicated’.
A spokeswoman for Tayside Contracts said: “We have a strong desire to work with local food suppliers, which will ensure benefits for the local economy, local employment and the environment.
“Several Tayside-based food producers already supply Tayside Contracts through our extensive supply chain and we always look to extend that local approach.
“This is to ensure that more sustainable, high quality and local products are used as much as possible in the safe, healthy, nutritious and delicious meals that are served every day to nearly 30,000 people by Tayside Contracts – whilst generating more income for local businesses.”
She said the company continues to work with NFU Scotland and local food producers to explore a way forward.
More information on this can be found on Tayside Contract’s website.
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