Soaring food costs mean school catering companies are struggling to implement the Welsh Government’s plan for universal free school meals.
Professor Kevin Morgan, an expert on school food, said the government must look into raising the price per meal paid to local government.
Education Minister Jeremy Miles said they are looking at the unit price.
It was set with “an assumption about possible cost increases,” Mr Miles said.
He added: “The world has obviously evolved and we are conducting a review.”
Welsh local authorities currently receive around £2.90 per child per meal for primary school meals.
This price was set before the new general school lunch policy was introduced last September.
Prof Morgan told the BBC’s Wales Live “I don’t think £2.90 is a viable tariff anymore”.
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“Of course, that needs to be checked again,” he added.
He said it’s important that food for children is attractive and of high quality to reduce waste.
Brad Pearce, National Chair of the Local Authority Caterers Association, painted a difficult picture for school caterers across Wales.
He said members had seen price increases of 20% on things like milk, cheese, meat, fruit and vegetables.
“Overall, we’re going to see an increase of between 50% and 70% since May last year,” he added.
Mr Pearce said funding per meal needed to rise with inflation to allow caterers to buy quality produce.
He said: “We need to review and address these … to account for increases in food costs so that we can buy local, fresh produce to produce the best quality meals.”
According to the Office for National Statistics, food inflation has risen nearly 5% since September.
Free universal school meals will be gradually offered to all primary school children in Wales as part of a cooperation agreement between the Welsh Labor Government and Plaid Cymru.
By April, every visiting child in first and second grade should be offered a free school meal.
Most schools in Wales have achieved this goal, but not all.
Nevertheless, the education minister expressed confidence that the goal of offering all primary school students a school lunch can be achieved by April 2024.
“The effort that has gone into getting this policy implemented by local authorities across Wales has been tremendous,” said Mr Miles.
“By next year, every child in a primary school in Wales will be offered a nutritious hot meal, which is an incredible achievement.”
At Blaenhonddan Primary School in Bryncoch, Neath Port Talbot, staff said the rollout had been hard work but a success.
Principal Gayle Major said parents were “absolutely thrilled” with the new policy but there were “significant challenges” in getting it off the ground.
“It had to be a whole-school approach. Given the extra workload that school brought and the willingness of the kitchen staff and my own staff to take on the extra responsibility, it was a success,” she says.
“In order to meet the increased demand, the school hired two additional permanent employees.”
More of this story on Wales Live, which can be seen on BBC One Wales on Wednesdays at 22:40 BST and on BBC iPlayer
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