Less than a third of York's schoolchildren are eating school dinners - with fears over healthy eating to blame.

The school meal take-up rate in York has dropped to 32.5 per cent.

This represents a gradual declining trend since 2003/04, when more than 38 per cent of children were eating school meals.

The percentage of primary school children taking a school meal in the city has dropped to just over 31 per cent during the summer term, and has then risen since September to just 32.5 per cent.

Traditionally school meal uptake is low during the summer term, when pupils often favour packed lunches.

But the figures still represent a significant downturn, at a time when the Government is introducing a new national performance indicator on school meal take-up from April 2008.

A spokeswoman for City of York Council said the local downturn mirrors a national trend, reflecting a backlash against healthier school meals.

In September last year The Press reported that new meal prices introduced by City of York Council, which came into effect in October, meant parents would have to find £10 a week to pay for school dinners.

The "Jamie Oliver effect" - named after the campaign by celebrity chef Jamie Oliver to raise the quality of school food - has put pressure on schools to provide healthier meals, and this means paying catering staff more.

Councillors agreed parents would have to pay £1.90 for a meal. This amounts to a rise of just over eight per cent, from £1.75.

The increase was the lowest out of the options put before councillors.

The price is set to rise to £2.05 in September this year, and to £2.20 in September 2009.

Under the new arrangement, the price increase will be partly offset by a Department for Education and Skills grant and the council's schools budget.

In July, Patrick Scott, the council's outgoing children's services chief, told The Press that unlike 57 per cent of other councils, York school meals were previously not subsidised.

A city council spokeswoman said the authority was continuing to work with schools to carry out a range of initiatives, including taster sessions for parents, to help increase uptake.

She said: "At its peak, the take-up for school meals reached 38 per cent.

"Unfortunately, and in common with the situation in many other areas of the country, take-up fell to an all-time low of 31 per cent last summer.

"However, we are working with schools to address this, by promoting the benefits of healthy eating and trying to encourage more children to opt for school meals.

"Take-up has now risen back up to 32.5 per cent. This is despite the price increases that were introduced during the autumn."