THE “Jamie Oliver effect” is being blamed for the collapse of a council-run school meals service that feeds hundreds of pupils every day.

Since the television chef exposed the poor quality of many school dinners, so many parents have decided to provide a packed lunch that the local authority in Swindon says that the service is no longer viable.

So few pupils are eating hot meals that the authority will be making 45 school dinner ladies redundant. Swindon Services, a council-run catering service that provides kitchen staff and ingredients, will close on July 22, leaving 16 schools hunting for a new supplier.

Some headteachers have criticised Oliver’s campaign, claiming that meals provided by the council were popular and perfectly healthy. Gavin Calthrop, a spokesman for Swindon Borough Council, said: “Jamie Oliver’s campaign does seem to have had an effect. The food provided by Swindon Services is perfectly healthy and produced to a very high standard. But parents are finding it cheaper to provide more nutritious food in packed lunches.”

Steve Spence, the chairman of governors at Salt Way Primary School, described the situation as a tragedy.

He said: “Schools meals are very important in a school like ours, where 35 per cent of the children receive free school meals. For many of them this will be their only hot meal of the day. The meals provided by Swindon Services are home-cooked, healthy meals.”

In his television series, Jamie’s School Dinners, the chef visited schools around the country investigating the standard of food being served.

The Channel 4 show led to a campaign by Oliver and parents, in which he called for the Government to provide more money for school meals.

Since it began, sales in school canteens across the country have plummeted and dozens of dinner ladies have been made redundant.

The number of schools for which Swindon Services provided meals dropped from 22 to 16, making it “economically unviable” to continue. The schools that it served will now receive only sandwiches, cold snacks and fruit.

Only 29 schools out of 92 in the area now provide a hot meal for their students, 12 from a private supplier and 17 prepared by their own staff.

Celia Messenger, the head of Catherine Wayte Primary in Abbey Meads, which has 340 pupils, said that she felt cheated. “We signed a new one-year contract with Swindon Services in April and we never expected it to end eight weeks later.

“We’ll be doing everything we can to strike a new deal with a private contractor. Hot meals are important.”

Linda Rankin, the head of Penhill Primary School, said: “Jamie Oliver’s views may have had an impact at some schools but not ours.

“More than 160 hot meals are needed here every day, but now we need to find an alternative. It is highly unlikely we will be able to do that by next term.”

Ruth Kelly, the Education Secretary, has pledged to investigate why councils are having to scrap hot meals. She told Anne Snelgrove, the Labour MP for South Swindon, that the council’s decision left her “very concerned”.

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