Rising cost of potatoes hits Nottinghamshire schools dinners
School caterers in more than 300 kitchens across Nottinghamshire have been forced to use more rice and noodles in place of potatoes because the cost of spuds has risen sharply over the last year, according to the BBC.
Its website reports the county council as saying the price it paid for potatoes had shot up from £91 a tonne in 2012, to £295 a tonne this year.
Nottinghamshire County Council's manager for catering and facilities Kevin McKay told the BBC the school meals service would continue to offer potatoes, just less often. They were being replaced by rice and noodles, which were just as healthy.
He said: "Tastes have evolved enormously and we do a lot of our menu testing with children and we try and find the most popular items that they like.
"But we have maintained the roast on a Wednesday which is the most popular meal among children and clearly that wouldn't be the same without roast potatoes."
Nottinghamshire County Council spends £5.5m providing 7m school meals a year. It estimates that a 2p rise in the cost of a meal adds £140,000 to council budget over the course of a year.