The cost of dairy products such as milk have gone up

Monitoring of spending for the last 10 months to January this year has found a �100,000 deficit in Highland Council's catering trading account.

Officers said it was the result of higher costs for wheat-based and dairy produce, last year's poor summer and global demand for food.

The details have emerged in the wake of report showing a rise in the cost of grocery shopping.

The Scottish Retail Consortium (SRC) reported earlier this week grocery prices in Scottish shops went up by 1.6% in the year to February.

It is the biggest increase since December 2005.

Researchers examined the prices of 500 of the most commonly-bought items, including butter, bread and milk.

For Highland Council, the increase in food costs was identified as one of the budget pressures it is facing.

In January, the authority supplied 16,480 school meals.

Early retirement

A report to next Thursday's education, culture and sport committee said the service will have to deal with a projected overspend of �2.60m.

Other pressures include increased demand for additional support needs at schools.