MOST people would jump at the chance to eat a meal prepared by one of the country's top chefs.

But Jamie Oliver-inspired menus don't seem to be the dish of the day for Warrington children.

Council bosses say they are trailblazing to encourage healthier eating.

Figures released to the Warrington Guardian show that since the TV chef started his crusade to cut out junk food from school dinners, the number of primary school pupils ordering meals in the borough has dropped.

And catering bosses at Warrington Borough Council are blaming the healthy eating crusader saying he has caused parents to lose faith in what their children are eating at the school dinner table.

The figures released under the Freedom of Information Act show that during the school year 2003/2004, an average 63 school meals were eaten at each primary school in the town every day.

In 2005/2006 only 55 meals were being eaten on average each day in each primary school. That drop follows national trends after the screening of the Channel 4's School Dinners, hosted by the much-loved chef.

Some schools have seen their school dinner take-up drop by up to 26 per cent.

Gordon Carson, catering services manager at the council, said: "It's the Jamie Oliver effect. He caused people to lose faith in school meals. He picked one of the worst examples of schools to show."

Mr Carson went on to say that the borough council has been making its dinners healthier since 2004 - before the show aired - and the money spent on meals has risen from 47p to 58p and is likely to rise again.

He added: "We have doubled the amount of fresh fruit and vegetables bought in the past 18 months and have got rid of processed foods.

"We also think we were the first local authority in the country to introduce the kind of training which our catering staff now go through.

"We feel we are the trailblazers in Warrington and there are indications of the numbers of pupils having meals going back up."

Over the same time-span, the number of secondary pupils eating school meals has jumped by nearly 100 a day.

hcartwright@guardiangrp.co.uk