To ask the Minister of Education whether his Department is implementing any measures to prevent food waste in schools.

The Education Authority (EA) Catering Service has a number of successful initiatives in place to prevent food waste which include:

An online advance meal booking system which operates across many primary schools. This enables parents to book menu items in advance which is then used to inform the number of each item needing to be prepared.

The introduction of harmonised nursery and primary school menus from 2022 across Northern Ireland.

The maintenance of food waste records within the four-week menu cycle in both primary and post-primary schools. This information allows the EA to identify more popular food items by comparing items prepared to items served.

Use of past data on food sales in both primary and post-primary school canteens to more accurately anticipate demand for each product in order to inform meal production and reduce the quantity of food waste.

The establishment of the EA Catering Menu Masters Group consisting of EA catering managers from across primary and post-primary settings who are based in school meal kitchens who hold the knowledge of their customer base and are able to design menus 12 months in advance.

In addition, the EA Education Information Solutions Programme is working to make available advance online booking systems to all primary schools. This will further reduce an already low percentage of food waste in both primary and post-primary settings.

The EA has a contract in place with a waste collection business to manage food waste in schools where it is responsible for the catering.