School dinners are the latest victim of the cost of living crisis with popular beef roast axed for cheaper gammon, it has been revealed.
Catering staff trying to juggle finances are having to switch to value-for-money cuts of meat such as turkey instead of chicken.
But trade body Laca (Local Authority Catering Association) has warned the changes could threaten the quality of meals.
More than half of children at some schools are entitled to free lunches and experts say for some it is the only meal of the day.
Government figures show overall, 1.9 million children in England are eligible for free school meals, up by 160,000 from 20.8% in 2021 to 22.5%.
But there are fears that as food inflation bites into catering budgets, kids could face changing menus or smaller portions.
Laca said caterers were seeing costs rocket by almost 50% as the price of 10kg of prepared potatoes soared by 48% from £10.46 to £15.50 and a box of 60 eggs rose by almost 37% from £9.79 to £13.39.
And staple ingredient minced beef used for dishes from lasagne and spaghetti bolognese to cottage pie and burgers was up by 11% in a matter of days.
According to a Laca survey, on average caterers are facing rising costs of 20% since April 2020.
Bernadette Kennedy, head teacher at Laira Green Primary School in Plymouth told the BBC the school has already replaced Cornish beef with gammon to save money.
Ms Kennedy said while she was pleased the school is still managing to offer a “healthy roast meal”, she added: “Some children stopped having roast dinner, and when we asked them why, they said they really liked the roast beef and Yorkshire pudding.
“That’s sad, because with the roast meat comes a lot of offer around vegetables that they might not otherwise try.”
Laca - which represents more than 3,000 school food providers in England and Wales - said the long-term effects of Covid, the war in Ukraine and rising food and fuel costs were all having an impact on what members could put on school dinner plates.
One in five members said they had switched from British meat to imported cuts while more than a quarter were considering the move.
Its survey found a third were considering using more processed food in meals and more than one in 10 had already done so.
Eight in 10 have had to change their menus or reduce options as a result of supply chain problems with across the board shortages reported from fish, chicken frozen veg, dairy and baked products.
Lamb has been axed completely as it is too expensive and some caterers have added pulses like red lentils to mince to make it go further.
Pollack and coley are being used as substitutes for white fish in fish fingers and apples and oranges have replaced more expensive summer fruit like strawberries and melon.
Brad Pearce, national vice-chairman of Laca, said: “The costs that are coming forward make it impossible for us to continue, unless some very difficult choices are made.
“In order to keep food on the plate we have to look at all options.”
Four in 10 Laca members polled revealed they were worried about meeting the school food standards in the new academic year, while more than half warned school food quality would get worse if things did not improve.
It is calling on the Government to raise funding from £2.41 per meal to £2.47 and increase it annually.
National chair of Laca Jacquie Blake said: “These findings should act as an urgent wake-up call. Many school caterers are at breaking point.
“Without adequate funding for school meals the most vulnerable children will miss out on what in some cases is their only hot meal of the day.
“Caterers strive to provide hot and nutritious school meals, but this is becoming increasingly difficult and is likely to only get worse in the coming months.”
Yesterday (Mon), children and families minister Will Quince admitted schools were “not immune” to the cost-of-living crisis but added they must manage their own budgets.
He said the Government had “really clear school food standards, which are all about healthy, nutritious meals for children while they’re at school”.
Mr Quince added: “I recognise the global inflationary pressures that the school catering sector and schools are not immune from - that’s why we’ve put an extra £7 billion over the course of the spending review period into schools, an additional £4 billion of that this year.”
But head teachers’ union the NAHT said all households were seeing “sharply rising costs” which “cannot help but impact schools and school meals”.
James Bowen, policy director at the NAHT added: “Schools will be working with their suppliers to maintain quality and to try and keep costs down for families but that means absorbing higher costs into already tightly squeezed budgets. As always, this means a choice on what to cut spending on elsewhere.”
