A CAMPAIGN to stem the number of North Yorkshire schoolchildren who are turning their backs on school meals has been launched.

Education bosses said many pupils have stopped taking school dinners despite being offered more healthy options.

North Yorkshire County Council yesterday announced a new drive to promote school meals.

As part of the campaign, schools will be awarded gold, silver or bronze ratings based on the percentage increase of pupils eating school meals.

Councillor John Watson, the county council's executive member for children's services, said: "We are determined to do all we can to make our school meals even better, both in terms of the quality and variety of the food served and, working with our schools, to make lunchtime meals in the school canteen a more enjoyable experience.

"Our message to North Yorkshire children and their parents is twofold: to parents, please take advantage of the excellent healthy meals on offer in our schools, and to pupils, that having a good meal together is an essential part of your education."

Education chiefs say major improvements have been made to school dinners in the past year. These include a new vegetarian menu, more additive-free and preservative-free food and more training for catering staff, including advice in healthy eating and nutrition.

Plans are also being discussed to replace frozen meat with fresh meat.

And new dishes will be added to primary school menus at no extra cost to the parent.

Rose Bruce, the council's marketing officer for client catering services, said the drop in the number of children eating school dinners had been significant.

She said it was difficult to pinpoint the exact reason for this, but admitted that it had coincided with more healthy menus being introduced in the county's schools.

"There has been a drop in the school meal uptake for whatever reason," she said.

"The purpose of this exercise is to tell children, their parents and the general public what a good job our staff are doing.

"We also want to educate children about food.

"We want to teach them to recognise healthy food and to encourage them to try it."