Dinner ladies and a pub company are among the finalists in BBC Radio 4's Food & Farming Awards 2004.

	Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall: hosting the awards on the Food Programme

Nominees will find out if they have been successful on 28 November, when presenter Sheila Dillon and celebrity chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall host a special edition of the Food Programme.

Contenders for best dinner lady include: Anne Brodie, cook supervisor at George Stephenson High School, Tyne & Wear; Ron McKenzie, head of catering at NHS Darlington Memorial Hospital; and Ian Woodhouse, chef at Stoke City Council. All were commended for their enthusiasm for food and use of local produce.

Gotto Family Pubs (owner of the Alma and the Ship in Wandsworth, London) is in the running for the best food producer award for its high-quality produce, which is supplied exclusively from the Gotto's farm in Surrey.