CELEBRITY chef Jamie Oliver could be drafted in to spice up school meals in Hampshire after his popular TV series led to a drop in pupils taking up the school dinner option.

A new-look menu, which starts in September, comes after the high-profile campaign by the television chef for better school dinners.

County council bosses want to follow his lead and they may even invite him to help plan the improvements.

Out will go cheap processed food such as sausage rolls, shaped potato products and Angel Delight, which are still on this summer's menu.

In will come more healthy freshly-cooked dinners, traditional puddings, and a wider variety of vegetables as well as salad.

One thing that will not change -- unless the Government provides more money -- is the typical dinner which will still contain ingredients that cost as little as 42p.

County councillor David Kirk, executive member for education, said: "We are trying to contact Jamie Oliver to see if he will work with us.

"While we think there is a lot we have already done to improve school dinners, we are not complacent.

"There is more we could do."

But Amanda Frost, head of Hampshire County Council Catering Services (HC3S), said this was "news to her".

Mrs Frost said HC3S, which serves up an average 40,000 meals a day, had already taken steps to provide better food -- and did not need Jamie's help.

Successes include organic beefburgers made with meat from a farm near Petersfield.

Mrs Frost said: "We have spent the last two years getting rid of processed items and trying to improve the quality of food.

"Our catering staff have been preparing a lot of products in school kitchens for quite a time now.

"We think we could have helped Jamie sort out Greenwich!"

The catering boss said they were grateful to the celebrity chef for putting school dinners at the top of the agenda.

But his programme sparked a decline in take-up of school meals in Hampshire, she said.

Mrs Frost added: "Parents believed what they saw on TV was true of Hampshire, which is not the case at all.

"That is why we have to make radical change quickly."

From September, all primary schools will have two set meals -- one meat and one non-meat with two vegetables, and a choice of one pudding or fresh fruit.

Children will have less opportunity to make unhealthy choices because only healthy freshly-prepared food will be served.

The proposed new menu includes vegetarian dishes such as roasted vegetables and bean pasta and sweet potato and lentil korma with rice.

Meat dishes include the traditional favourites such as cottage pie and roast, as well as spicy chicken and organic meatballs.

Mrs Frost said: "We know parents in Hampshire care about what their children eat, and we are trying to give them the added assurance of knowing school meals will be balanced and nutritious and their children can't put the wrong choices together."