As a new year begins, it’s often a time for reflection, reset and renewed focus on priorities. Staffing changes, revised policies and new pupils can all bring fresh challenges – particularly within catering operations. One area that must remain top of the agenda, however, is food safety.
With increasing awareness around allergens, tighter legislation and higher expectations from parents, schools must be confident that every meal served is safe. But when catering is delivered in different ways – in-house for some schools and outsourced for others – a common question arises:
Who is actually responsible for food safety in schools?
The legal responsibility always rests with the school
One of the most common misconceptions is that when catering is outsourced, responsibility for food safety also transfers entirely to the provider. In reality, this is not the case.
No matter how a school chooses to run its catering operation, the school remains legally responsible for ensuring that food safety standards are met. If catering is delivered in-house, schools must have robust systems in place to manage compliance themselves. If catering is outsourced, governors and senior leaders still need assurance that external partners are operating safely, legally and in line with contractual agreements.
Managing food safety in-house: The role of technology
For schools that manage catering internally, ensuring consistent food safety can be complex and time-consuming. This is where specialist food procurement and catering management systems – such as Litmus Edge – can make a significant difference. Litmus Edge provides unique food safety, allergen and compliance technology that removes much of the time-intensive manual work involved in safely managing catering operations.
Key features include:
- 4,000+ recipes with supplier-linked nutritional and allergen information
- Automated School Food Standards (SFS) menu management
- Built-in allergen checking and compliance controls
- Pre-Packaged for Direct Sale (PPDS) labelling
- Real-time supplier integration
- Reduced risk of human error
- Faster menu changes and safer food service
Outsourcing catering: Choosing the right partner
If schools choose to outsource catering, selecting the right provider is critical. Cost is often a deciding factor – but price alone is never the sole driver. Factors such as food safety, standards and quality all come into play.
We’ve worked with hundreds of schools to support them throughout the tendering and procurement process, helping identify suitable providers that are fully compliant with food safety standards, have robust allergen control procedures, maintain transparent reporting processes and invest in staff training.
This independent oversight helps schools move forward with confidence, knowing that food safety is being properly managed and governed.
Joe Parfitt, Consultancy Director at The Litmus Partnership, explains: “With the pressures schools now face – from budgets and staffing challenges to increasing compliance demands – food safety must remain a non-negotiable. Schools collectively serve food to millions of children every day, and the risks that come with getting it wrong are very real. Supporting schools through the tendering process and finding the right catering partner, or tightening up their in-house operation, are all areas we help with.”
If you would like support with catering strategy, procurement, compliance or technology solutions get in touch with us here.
The Litmus team
