Jamie Oliver is campaigning for more fresh ingredients

TV chef Jamie Oliver is spearheading a campaign to get better ingredients into school dinners.

He says a minimum of 50p should be spent per head, but the study by the Soil Association suggests only a quarter of areas spend more than that.

The campaign group for organic farming had responses from 79 councils out of the 143 it contacted.

It is pressing the government to act now to raise nutritional standards in schools.

The government recently announced it was setting up a new school food trust to give independent support and advice for schools to improve the standard of meals.

'Act now'

New minimum standards for processed foods - such as beef burgers, sausages and cakes - will be introduced in September to reduce their fat, salt and sugar contents - ahead of the introduction of tougher minimum standard for school meals in September 2006

Peter Melchett, from the Soil Association said: "There are two vital things missing in Ruth Kelly's recent announcement on school meals - the introduction of baseline nutritional standards for school meals, and increased funding to pay for decent ingredients and for extra hours in the kitchen.

"At the moment, Ruth Kelly does not plan to do anything about nutritional standards for primary school meals until September 2006. She must act now, not in a year and a half."

According to the Soil Association, local authorities spending the least on ingredients for school meals include Rotherham, Redcar and Cleveland, Birmingham and Stockton-on-Tees.

They all spend between 37p and 40p per child for a meal. Bigger spenders include the London boroughs of Kensington and Chelsea (65p) and Wandsworth (70p). Both charge �1.85 per meal.

The Isles of Scilly spend the most on a meal - 90p per child - and charges �1.75 a day.

The Soil Association says a minimum of 65p should be spent on ingredients.

Footing the bill

The Local Authority Caterers Association has recently called for greater government investment to fund improvements in food quality, school kitchens and staff training.

The organisation's chairman Neil Porter said: "Although some authorities have been reported as spending, at the lower end, 37p on the food costs, many authorities have been making gradual improvements such as reducing or removal of processed foods from menus and increasing the use of freshly prepared meals using locally sourced ingredients".

He said there was no sign that the government was willing to put in the extra money needed to pay for more fresh ingredients in menus.

"If parents want their children to have a Jamie Oliver-style menu then without government funding, school meal prices around the country will inevitably rise to reflect the higher costs involved to produce them and it will be parents - not the government - footing the bill," he said.