Northern Ireland's school meals service hit by shortages

Northern Ireland's school meals service is facing "significant challenges" due to some food and staff shortages.

That is according to a letter from the Education Authority (EA) to school principals.

The letter said that many "schools' kitchens had been experiencing some disruption to their normal orders".

"All areas of the food industry are facing significant challenges at present, including our own school meals catering service," the EA said.

The EA's catering service provides meals for pupils in most schools across Northern Ireland.

In the letter to principals, the EA said that there were "several factors" behind the disruption school kitchens were facing.

"Manufacturers supplying our suppliers reducing their product lines and, in some cases, removing products we purchased previously," the EA said.

Other reasons given were "manufacturers not having the capacity to meet demand due to staff shortages" and "the availability of raw materials for certain food lines".

The EA did not clarify which "raw materials" it was referring to when asked by BBC News NI.

But the letter to principals it also said a supplier had made a decision in August to stop trading with the EA's catering services and it was "taking time" for stocks to be ordered and delivered to other suppliers.

The EA told school headteachers it did expect "current issues in relation to deliveries" to ease over the next two to three weeks.

But the EA said that staff shortages "across all catering areas in Northern Ireland are having an impact on the normal day-to-day service".

"We have higher than usual staff absence due to illness and Covid related," the letter said.

"There are also vacancies within the service that we are continuing to recruit for but again like many sectors this is proving to be a challenge."

The EA said it did not expect the situation with staff shortages "to improve soon" but it would work to recruit more staff in the months ahead.

In a statement to BBC News NI, the EA said: "We provide over 140,000 meals to schools every day.

"A full service continues to be provided however, in response to the current challenges, the school meals service has, on occasion, had to provide various alternative menu choices in some schools.

"Like other hospitality sectors, staffing pressures exist and we are in the midst of a recruitment drive to add to our hard-working, professional and dedicated catering staff."

Agriculture Minister Edwin Poots had previously warned that the Northern Ireland Protocol could cause issues with food supplies.

However, the EA letter does not mention that as a specific reason for the challenges the school meals service is facing.