How good are school meals?

Lord Hanningfield, who leads Essex County Council and is a Shadow Transport minister, has had a written answer about school meals:

"To ask Her Majesty's Government how much is spent each day on school meals for pupils attending (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in Essex. [HL89]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Children, Schools and Families (Baroness Morgan of Drefelin): The department does not collect this information. However, the latest annual survey undertaken by the School Food Trust reports average costs across all authorities as follows:

	Primary	Secondary
2007-08—price per meal	£1.67	£1.77
Ingredient cost	£0.62	Not available
Labour cost	£1.06	Not available

The department is providing £240 million subsidy to local authorities between 2008 and 2011 towards the cost of producing school lunches."

This seems very good value. However, is the food good quality? What do ConservativeHome readers make of school meals?