NORTH Ayrshire Council have defended further changes to lunch menus across their schools – despite kids only having one choice of sandwich filling per day.

Last month, council chiefs made another batch of changes to the menus served to children after reviewing feedback received from parents and carers.

This means that on any given day, only one sandwich filling will be available – with ham being removed from kitchens completely after a government move because of fears it could lead to potentially fatal diseases.

Council bosses defended the changes saying that schoolchildren now had additional hot food choices but there has been a reduction from three sandwich filling choices in a day last term, to just one this year.

A North Ayrshire Council spokesperson explained: “We have always exceeded the Scottish Government legislation for nutritional content and are accredited with a Gold Food for Life award which recognises healthy sustainable food choices on offer across all of our primary schools. North Ayrshire Council is the only local authority in Scotland to have this level of accolade.

“To further strengthen our commitment to healthy foods, we took the decision to remove any food containing nitrates. Nitrates are present in ham and bacon as they are added during the curing process therefore these items have been removed from our menus from the start of the new school year.

“The Catering Team Manager has been attending parent council meetings and parents’ evenings to provide menu samples and discuss the menu options and the response to this has been positive.

“Following feedback we have made some changes to the menu and we have added an additional hot option so pupils will have a choice of three hot options rather than two.”