Meat sourced from two Pembrokeshire companies is being served up at all schools and local authority-run residential homes in the county.

Pembrokeshire County Council buys its meat from Welsh Quality Meats, Neyland, and Welsh Hook Meat Centre, Haverfordwest.

The Authoritys support for local business and producers is highlighted at a time when the Farmers Union of Wales is campaigning for all Welsh county councils to buy the best meat it can afford.

It says the quality of food served to children and the elderly should have priority over cost savings.

Welsh lamb and beef is of high quality and is produced to stringent animal welfare guidelines, insisted the FUWs commodities officer, Sion Aron.

Cheaper meat, often sourced from outside the UK, may not benefit from our heavily regulated and stringent production processes.

The Meat and Livestock Commission has hinted that local authorities may be falling short of the requirements set out in the Governments Best Value scheme.

We accept that local authorities, like the farming industry, are under financial pressures but we urge them to give due consideration to cost effectiveness before deciding to buy their meat supplies, added Mr Aron.

Cheaper meat, he suggests, cannot be guaranteed to be farm assured and fully traceable.

A spokesman for Pembrokeshire County Council confirmed that it tried, wherever possible, to source its food products from within Wales.

Welsh Quality Meats supply the meat for the school meals service and the meat used by social services comes from the Welsh Hook Meat Centre, he said.