SCHOOLS in Kirklees could soon be following the example set by TV chef Jamie Oliver in his quest to make school meals healthier.
Channel 4 TV show Jamie's School Dinners has seen him successfully replace junk food with health food in schools across the London Borough of Greenwich.
Huddersfield MP Barry Sheerman has now been in talks with Kirklees Council chiefs to see if a similar scheme could work here.
He said: "There are schools in Kirklees that are already providing healthy meals rather than horrible recycled meat.
"We have good practice - but we must make it the norm for children. The council have pledged support for that."
The news comes after Education Secretary Ruth Kelly's announcement on Wednesday that £280m more would be spent on school meals.
The cash will be introduced from September and spread over three years.
It will pay for training and wages for dinner ladies who will need to learn new skills and work more hours to cook healthy food from scratch, instead of simply reheating frozen meals.
The money will also mean more can be spent on ingredients.
Currently, meals are made on a budget of just 37p a child.
Under the new regime, 50p per child will be spent in primary schools and 60p in secondary schools.
From September next year school meals will have to meet a minimum nutrition standard, which will be monitored by education inspectors Ofsted.
When the extra cash was announced Jamie Oliver was at 10 Downing Street, presenting a petition to Prime Minister Tony Blair.
The petition demanded better food and was signed by 271,677 people via his Feed Me Better internet campaign.
Mr Sheerman will be approaching the chef to ask him to come to Parliament again to address the Commons Education Select Committee.
Mr Sheerman, who is the committee's chairman, said: "Now that the money is available there is nothing to stop use getting on with things.
"We need urgent action to win over the hearts and minds of children, parents and staff."
