Quality Meat Scotland (QMS) has launched its 2015 schools meat voucher scheme to help Scottish secondary schools encourage their pupils to learn to cook quick, tasty and healthy meals, using high quality meat.
The initiative means that every secondary school in Scotland can apply for a voucher worth up to £100 which can be exchanged at local retailers for top quality cuts of Scotch Beef PGI, Scotch Lamb PGI and Specially Selected Pork.
The scheme was developed by QMS in response to concerns that tight budgets meant many Scottish schools were unable to afford fresh meat for use in cookery lessons, As a result, many pupils leave school without the skills to cook simple, healthy meals.
Over 315 secondary schools took part in the initiative last year, making the scheme a “key component” in QMS’s health and education drive to ensure people understand the role of meat in a healthy, balanced diet.
This year’s launch, hosted by Edinburgh butchers Findlays of Portobello, featured three times judo Olympian and 2014 Commonwealth champion, Sarah Clark, who said that during her time as an elite athlete, lean meat always played a very important part in her diet.
Headline image shows (left to right) Billy Hoy from Findlays, Sarah Clark and QMS health and education executive, Jenni Henderson.