Mother says school food could be ‘harming son’s health’

Linda Grant, 43, of Burlington Avenue, is one of about 30 parents who have signed a petition calling for better school meals at Derwent Infant and Junior School.

Housewife Mrs Grant claims her eight-year-old son, Dean, is on a healthy eating plan because he is over-weight.

She said she was determined that Dean will eat healthily, but claimed the school was not sticking to a published menu which was circulated to parents.

Mrs Grant said: "I don't have a grievance with the quality of the food at the school, it is just that they are not sticking to what's on the menu.

"I had been sending Dean to school with a healthy pack-up with carrot sticks and tomato, but when they introduced healthy meals I decided to try him on them, as I get them free and it was expensive for me as a single mum to do the pack-ups.

"On the first day he was down to have roast chicken dinner and when he came home he said he'd had sausage and bean pie and apple crumble for dessert - that's two pastries which is totally unhealthy, so now he's back on pack-ups most days."

Yesterday The Press reported that parents at the school denied intimidating a cook as part of a row over meals.

Parent Jim Wallis, whose ten-year-old twins, Tom and Charlotte, go to the school in Tang Hall, said parents did not want to drive the school cook from her job and only wanted better school food.

His comments follow a report in The Press on Monday that school cook Theresa Topping claimed she was the victim of a campaign of intimidation.

Mr Wallis said: "There's absolutely no way parents are intimidating her. We don't want to intimidate her, we just want decent school meals for our kids which, at the moment, we just don't feel we're getting."

Mrs Topping has been the school cook at Derwent Infant and Junior School for four years and claims over the past months a rogue group of parents have set out to drive her from her job.

Mrs Topping said she had received abusive phone calls at work, which meant the school kitchens had been forced to go ex-directory.

Mrs Topping, 50, said her working life was being made "a nightmare" and her health was suffering as a result.

She has also suffered a number of stress-related seizures and is now considering resigning from her post.

After the half-term break, the school is looking to hold a school meals taster session so that parents can try out the meals for themselves.

Rob Marshall, York area catering manager for North Yorkshire County Caterers, is backing a meeting with parents on the matter.

Keith Tilbrook, general manager of the company, said: "School meals have changed a lot over recent years.

"They are made fresh every day on the premises. Fresh meat and poultry is sourced from suppliers using regional produce, menus use fresh vegetables whenever possible and fruit is available every day.

"Meals are nutritionally balanced and analysed by a nutritionalist employed to ensure the Government Guidelines introduced in September are achieved."