Schools in Scotland are serving up vegan meals after a humans rights challenge by campaigners.
The decision comes after a request from a parent in East Renfrewshire which was initially refused.
But the council made a U-turn on the decision after campaign group Go Vegan World worked with the parents to challenge the decision citing human rights laws.
The local authority has now produced a range of choices that cater to vegans and confirmed it is available on request to pupils throughout the region.
READ MORE: Vegans in legal threat over 'discriminatory' NHS voucher ban on plant milks
It follows a similar case in Glasgow City Council when a couple challenged their failure to provide a full vegan menu for their daughter in nursery.
The council then produced a three-week vegan menu and confirmed that this is now available on request throughout the Glasgow area, in schools and nurseries.
Go Vegan World's legal representative, Barbara Bolton, said: "Vegans have the same protections as those who hold religious beliefs.
"They have the right to live according to their moral conviction that it is wrong to use and kill other animals and they must not be discriminated against.
"We are working to raise awareness among vegans so they have the information they need to challenge rights breaches, whether that be a failure to provide suitable food in school, hospital or prison, difficulties at work, or challenging indoctrination in school through teaching in a way that conflicts with the vegan philosophy.
"We are assisting vegans with rightsbased challenges whenever we can."
READ MORE: Targets high for Scots vegan food firm that is Daring to be different
Currently, most schools in Scotland do not offer any clearly labelled vegan options for pupils on their standard menus.
A spokesperson for East Renfrewshire Council confirmed they had "worked closely" with parents to ensure a suitable solution was reached.
They added: "We provide more than 11,000 meals every day across all our schools and cater for a wide range of dietary requirements, including allergenfree, kosher, halal, celiac and gluten-free options.
"Any parent or carer who requests a meal to meet the needs of a special diet, which includes vegan meals, will be catered for to ensure we continue to offer a wide-ranging menu which is inclusive for all."
A Scottish Government spokesman said: "It is for councils to consider the food on offer and we expect them to make reasonable efforts to accommodate dietary requirements so it is welcome to see these options being made available to pupils."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article