Staffordshire schools drop beef dinners
School meals containing beef have been pulled in Staffordshire.
The county council, which supplies food to 87 per cent of schools, said it was a precautionary measure in light of the national horse meat scandal.
School dinners, including cottage pie with potatoes and gravy, were therefore scrapped this week.
Councillor Mark Winnington, environment and assets boss, reassured worried parents the authority's suppliers have no association with any firms implicated in the nationwide investigation.
He said: "We have had assurances from all of our suppliers that neither they, nor their own suppliers buy beef products from those companies implicated in recent reports."
Meanwhile, wider checks for horse meat contamination in schools, hospitals and supermarkets across Staffordshire and the Black Country are taking place.
The county council's trading standards team is carrying out checks on supermarkets and other retailers in the area, while Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust has confirmed checks were carried out on suppliers at Stafford and Cannock hospitals on Monday but no contamination was detected.
Walsall Council's trading standards team is currently taking food samples to be analysed.
Sandwell's health chief Councillor Paul Moore has said no school meals in the area have had to be revised in light of the scandal.
Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals Trust has confirmed no menus have needed to be altered, as all meals are cooked on site.
The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, which runs New Cross and West Park Hospitals, says all of its meals are made on site.
