Celebrity chef Darina Allen has said free primary school meals should be sourced locally and made from scratch. Appearing before the Education and Youth Committee, she welcomed that there was a hot school meals programme and said it could have the same public health benefits as the smoking ban. She said the current school meal programme was “undermining children’s health” and that the meals provided were “generally lacking” in nutrition, and said ultra-processed foods “dominate many school meals”. Locally sourced produceMs Allen said that cooking meals from scratch using locally sourced produce would “align” with the Government’s policies on a circular economy and support local farmers and businesses. She also cited a model used in Japan where meals are cooked from scratch using locally sourced ingredients and every school must have an in-house nutritionist.

Source: Irish Examiner January 22, 2026 15:40 UTC