Benefits to be spread around as firm wins food contract

Vale of York Tory MP Anne McIntosh has visited North Yorkshire County Council's school meals service to see how it is leading the country in encouraging local suppliers and growers to provide fresh food to school kitchens.

The MP also helped to celebrate the success of Scarborough-based company Stuart Foods Ltd in winning a contract for supplying many of the county's schools, elderly people's homes and outdoor education centres with fruit and vegetables.

Stuart Foods will now be responsible for supplying over 250 establishments with produce sourced from growers in the Yorkshire and Humberside area.

Fresh produce has been at the top of the menu in the county's drive to ensure food prepared in school kitchens across the county is top quality and locally sourced.

North Yorkshire County Caterers, the school meals service, has been providing support and encouragement to local suppliers as part of the tendering process for contracts.

The service has already been singled out by the School Food Trust as a beacon of good practice and leader of the field in the use of fresh, locally-sourced and nutritious ingredients. It was also one of the first local authorities to measure up to the Governments tough new targets on nutritional standards for school meals

Stuart Foods has grown continuously over the past 20 years. It now employs 25 people and has nine delivery vans on the road every day.

County councillor Jim Clark, North Yorkshire's Executive Member for Schools, said: "I am delighted to see a local business successfully tendering for council contracts and not only employing local people but also supplying healthy locally grown produce for use in school meals."

By expanding its own business Stuart Foods has also supported increasing numbers of local and regional growers in getting their goods to market. Last year Stuart Foods won the Fresh Produce Category in the Deliciously Yorkshire awards.