Horsemeat free school dinners in Richmond

Parents who's children go to schools across Hampton, Teddington and Richmond can breath a sigh of relief as the horsemeat scandal ensues. 

It's been revealed Richmond Council awarded the school meals contract to ISS Education in 2011 meaning all meals being cooked on site using fresh ingredients. 

All meals meet independently verified standards that guarantee high-quality, local, ethical and sustainable sourcing of ingredients.

This includes: seasonal menus, free-range eggs, 'Red Tractor' meat, Freedom Food chicken and pork, organic milk and bread, and no GM ingredients.

This contract has recently been awarded the Food for Life 'Silver' catering mark.

It means that meat is from farms which satisfy UK welfare standards.

Importantly for parents, information about where the food has come from is freely available.

ISS have reassured parents that none of their beef-based or other meat-based meals contain any traces of horsemeat.

Cllr Paul Hodgins, Richmond Council Cabinet Member for Schools, said: "It is a key priority to make sure our children are eating high-quality food at lunch time." 

"To ensure this, we scored the tenders of the possible providers 55% on price and 45% on the basis of quality."