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A new report from Highland Council has shown that secondary school children would prefer to get their lunch from outlets outside the school gates because they believe local shops, bakeries and takeaways offer better value for money.

Around 145 pupils were interviewed and results show that 50% of them choose not to eat on the school campus, where a meal costs £1.85.

From January 2008 to January 2009, the number of meals being served has dropped by an average of 1,400 per day, equating to 16.6%.

From April 2008 to December 2008, uptake fell by 1,000 meals per day losing the council's catering account £463,600.

New research from the Carbon Trust Standard shows that consumers still want to buy green despite the current economic climate, with 62% of consumers saying environmental concerns still influence their purchasing decisions.

The research shows that a business's green credentials have a significant impact on consumer buying choices.

Two thirds (66%) of consumers say it's important to buy from environmentally responsible companies, with one in seven (14%) saying they have voted with their feet by deciding not to buy from a company based on their environmental reputation and almost a quarter based on a company's ethical reputation.

The research shows that 70% of consumers do not feel confident that they can clearly identify which companies are environmentally responsible.

Six in ten consumers (59%) are sceptical about the environmental claims companies make, and 44% of consumers would like more information on what companies are actually doing to be environmentally responsible.

Consumers look to a range of indicators to understand whether or not a company is environmentally responsible, but the most important criteria they rely on are what they read in the media (38%) and third party endorsement or accreditation (34%).

The least popular factor consumers use to judge whether a company is behaving in an environmentally responsible manner is what advertising tells them (6%).

YouGov surveyed nearly 2,000 UK adults in late February 2009 on behalf of the Carbon Trust Standard.

Diners are being fed dishes full of saturated fat by celebrity chefs, according to a new report published by The Fat Panel.

The report analysed the saturated fat content of a variety of starters, main courses, side orders and desserts from popular cook books and discovered that many celebrity chefs' recipes contained more than 100% of the guideline daily amount (GDA) of saturated fat (30g for men and 20g for women) in a single serving.