FOI Request - School Meal Waste and Produce
Request 101003757279
1. The total number of free school meals prepared versus the number actually consumed for each of the past five years.
2. If possible, the estimated cost or weight of unserved/free school meals that go to waste each year over the past five years.
3. Details on how unserved meals are handled—are they donated, repurposed, or disposed of?
4. The total cost of wasted/unserved free school meals for each of the past five years.
5. The total amount spent on food for school meals over the last five years, broken down by:
Scottish-sourced produce
UK-sourced produce
Imported produce (with country of origin where available)
6. A breakdown of spending on imported food, over the last five years, including:
The total amount spent on non-Scottish meat products and their country of origin.
The total amount spent on frozen food sourced outside Scotland.
7. A list of specific imported food items purchased for school meals, including:
Quantity and cost of each item.
Country of origin for each item (where available).
Response 25-04-2025
1. Primary - we use a pre order system for our meals including Free School Meals so we only produce the number of meals ordered.
Secondary – we provide a selection of items and pupils can purchase multiple items; information requested is not held. Information that is not held falls under Section 17 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 - Information not held.
2. We do not keep this information for either primary or secondary; however the waste is minimal.
Primary schools may prepare extra 2-3 portions for emergencies; if these are not used, where appropriate and within the guidelines of Food safety Act the hot food is cooled and frozen for future use. Information that is not held falls under Section 17 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 - Information not held.
3. Primary are pre ordered meals means there are no unserved meals and if they are a very small amount of these.
Secondary – any item that is not classed as high risk foods i.e. cooked rice are cooled within the Environmental Healths Guidelines.
Packaged and labelled with ingredients and allergens, reheating instructions if appropriate. Then refrigerated, then education staff put them out for pupils to pick up free of charge.
4. Information not held, would be minimal. Information that is not held falls under Section 17 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 - Information not held.
5. Our supplier of Fruit and Vegetables strives to use local produce where possible, however given the Scottish climate this is obviously not possible for all produce.
Fruit and vegetables is hard for them to quantify due to supply chains and seasonality and they are unable to provide a figure on this for us. Information that is not held falls under Section 17 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 - Information not held.
Our Grocery and Frozen food supplier is unable to give us a breakdown of what is requested.
The supplier has forwarded to the Procurement Framework organisation who have provided us with statistics for Scotland wide, however we have been advised that this is business critical for them and they do not permit us to share it.
Fresh Meat Suppliers
Fresh Meat from local suppliers are able to give a % of where the Fresh meat is sourced
2020/21 - 50% of fresh meat are within Scotland
2021/22 - 50% of fresh meat are within Scotland
2022/23 - 50% of fresh meat are within Scotland
2023/24 - 50% of fresh meat are within Scotland
2024/25 - 50% of fresh meat are within Scotland
6. We do not hold this information. Information that is not held falls under Section 17 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 - Information not held.
7. We do not hold this information. Information that is not held falls under Section 17 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 - Information not held.