Photo: Quality Meat Scotland

The pilot saw the home economics departments of 29 Glasgow city secondary schools and six special needs schools given a £100 voucher to spend on fresh meat for use by students on home economics and hospitality courses.

The scheme had almost 100% take up from the Schools involved and responses from the scheme have been overwhelmingly positive. One teacher said: “The pupils seemed more proud of their dishes when they knew where the meat came from.

“It was a fantastic idea and we made a point in explaining the scheme to pupils to draw their attention to the fact they were using good quality meat.”

The scheme was launched following reports that many schools were unable to afford using fresh red meat products during cookery lessons and pupils were restricted to cheaper protein options.

The pilot has proven such a success that QMS is now investigating the feasibility of rolling the project out nationwide.