NAKED chef Jamie Oliver has been blamed for putting North Yorkshire pupils off their school dinners.

School dinner take-up has slumped in York, North and East Yorkshire, following the celebrity chef's TV expos of the turkey twizzlers and other processed foods served up elsewhere in Britain.

But parents who have switched to packed lunches were urged today to think again, as North Yorkshire County Caterers revealed they had already scrapped twizzlers and introduced healthier alternatives last September.

"We were well ahead of Jamie." said general manager Keith Tilbrook.

"Unfortunately, since the programme, many people have associated the meals shown as being representative of all school meals.

"Meal take-up, which was rising, has now fallen following the programme."

He urged anyone with doubts over the quality of school meals in North Yorkshire to look at the firm's current menus and encourage their children to try them. He also asked parents to contact the firm, or their child's school, with suggested improvements.

The TV chef's programmes, which highlighted the shortcomings of school meals in two other areas of England, sparked a national debate over the quality of school dinners.

Mr Tilbrook said it had resulted in a welcome increase in the interest of everyone in improving school meals, and also the promise of more funding from the Government.

In a letter to parents, Nick Postma, client catering manager for North Yorkshire County Council, said that take-up of school meals had increased by about five per cent between September and December, compared with a year before.

But the increase had been reversed since the start of the year, apparently as a result of concerns raised by the programmes.

He said that from talking to other local authorities and to the Department for Education and Science, it was clear that the decline had been happening across the country.

He said North Yorkshire County Caterers supplied tens of thousands of meals a day to many primary and secondary schools in both North Yorkshire and the City of York Council area.

Last September, turkey and chicken shapes had been taken off the lunch menus, and some schools were now introducing chip-free days.

Menus now featured more home-made food, and more yoghurt and fresh fruit, salad boxes and pasta.

He said it was hoped extra government funding would allow more to be spent on food but also to pay for staff training on matters such as healthy eating and nutrition.

School dinner take-up has also declined by about five per cent in East Yorkshire since the programmes went out, said Alan Woods, catering unit manager for East Riding of Yorkshire Council.

He said the county's schools had never served twizzlers, and had always had an emphasis on home-cooked food.

Updated: 10:17 Monday, May 23, 2005