North Ayrshire Council has retained the ‘Gold Food for Life Served Here’ award for the eighth year running.

Awarded by Soil Association Scotland, the prestigious Gold accreditation recognises the council’s continued commitment to making good food the easy choice, championing environmentally sustainable, ethical food options, sourced by local suppliers.

The prestigious accolade has been awarded to all 50 North Ayrshire Primary Schools in addition to 15 early years centres and Arran High School.

And the latest figures show that the majority of ingredients for North Ayrshire school meals are from Scotland.

Councillor Jim Montgomerie, Cabinet Member for Green New Deal and Sustainability, said: “We are proud of our continued record in using local produce and supporting businesses in Ayrshire and across Scotland.

“Our pupils are able to enjoy some of the finest school menus anywhere in the country and the quality of the food is second to none.

“Retaining this gold mark gives our pupils and parents confidence in the quality of the ingredients used in our recipes.

“This is only possible thanks to our tremendous Facilities Management Team who are passionate about delivering high quality, healthy foods to North Ayrshire’s learners.”

Carolyn Hope, North Ayrshire Council’s Senior Manager for Facilities Management, said: “We work hard to ensure we can support local suppliers by sourcing the healthiest possible ingredients.

“For example, almost 18 per cent of our fresh ingredients are organic including Scottish milk, pasta, rice, flour, meat and bananas.

“All the milk, yoghurt, cheese, seasonal fruit and vegetables are from Scotland when available, the eggs are free range from a local Ayrshire farm and our fresh fish is Marine Stewardship Council certified sustainable seafood and fully traceable. None of our food contains undesirable additives, artificial trans fats or GM ingredients and all our meat is ethically sourced to ensure UK welfare standards. We take a huge amount of care over every single ingredient which goes into our school kitchens.

“We want our children to get the best possible start in life and, for me, that means serving up healthy, nutritious, local produce in our dining halls every single day.”