TELEVISION chef Jamie Oliver's campaign against poor school food threatens to cost dinner ladies their jobs, one North-East authority has warned.

Canteen sales have dropped across North Yorkshire as parents refuse to let their children eat school dinners.

The estimated seven per cent drop in pupils taking school dinners in North Yorkshire fits in with an estimated eight to nine per cent drop across the UK.

But school meal numbers are holding up well in much of the rest of the region, with caterers in County Durham, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough and Redcar and Cleveland all reporting no change in take-up.

Nick Postma, client catering manager for North Yorkshire County Council schools, said the campaign by Jamie Oliver had some positive elements, such as triggering increased Government funding. But there was a negative side, he said, with some parents assuming that all school meals were under-par.

"We have definitely seen a downturn in the meal uptake in North Yorkshire.

"We have just done the figures and we are seven per cent down on the same period last year."

Mr Postma warned that, unless parents supported the recently improved school meals service, it could have an adverse impact on staffing.

"If the downturn does not improve when the review of working hours takes place, it could result in a reduction. We are hoping that this is just a short-term impact," he said.

Mr Postma has written to North Yorkshire parents urging them to give school dinners a chance.

Yesterday, that concern was underlined by a strongly-worded speech by Neil Porter, chairman of the Local Authority Caterers' Association, which represents 1,000 council caterers nationwide.

Speaking at a Unison conference on school food in London, Mr Porter said Jamie Oliver's Feed Me Better campaign had created the unfair impression that all meals served in school canteens were bad - and warned that dinner ladies could lose their jobs as a result.

"These staff have already been criticised for what they are doing. On top of that that, their jobs are to be at risk," he said.

A spokeswoman for Scolarest, a private firm which provides meals to 239 primary schools in County Durham, said they had not noticed any significant decrease in customers.

The company was trialling new menus in four schools and the feedback so far had been "extremely positive", she added.

A spokeswoman for Darlington Borough Council said the take-up of school meals at Hummersknott School and Language College had increased, while Eastbourne Comprehensive was unchanged.