April 2006
NEWS
Hospital food
Nutritional standards in care homes
Fish
World Trade Organisation (WTO) ruling on GM
Food labelling and Europe
FOOD IN SCHOOLS AND CHILD CARE CENTRES
Education and Inspection Bill
School Food Trusts advice on standards for school food other than lunch
School Meals and Snacks (Scotland) Bill
Dinner clubs
Food in childcare centres
Soil Association, Food for Life programme wins BEMAs
RECENT PUBLICATIONS
Public Sector Food Procurement Initiative (PSFPI) website recent additions
Smarter food procurement in the public sector, The National Audit Office
Serving Time: Prisoner Diet and Exercise, The National Audit Office
Healthy eating in schools and Food technology in secondary schools, Ofsted
5 A DAY posters
Promoting 5 A DAY toolkits
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NEWS
Hospital food
A reward scheme that offered children in Raigmore Hospital, Inverness, vouchers for McDonalds has been withdrawn. The vouchers were given out on an occasional basis to youngsters who had been "brave" undergoing treatment. For the full article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/4787074.stm
One of Scotlands leading coronary heart disease experts, Paul MacIntyre, has observed that hospitals are giving the wrong message by selling unhealthy, poisonous snacks in canteens and foyer shops. He has reacted by setting up a fruit stall in the Royal Alexandra
Hospital in Paisley, where he is a consultant. See: http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=508862006
Two chefs managing the kitchen at St. Lukes Hospital in Duluth, US, are adding organic vegetables to the menu. See http://www.glrc.org/story.php3?story_id=2983 for details.
Nutritional standards in care homes
On 6th March the Minister with responsibility for care, Liam Byrne, set out steps being taken to ensure that the national minimum standards of nutrition for older people in care homes, as outlined in Care Homes for Older People National Minimum Standards and Care Homes for Adults National Minimum Standards, are being properly implemented. Souce: Hansard (http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200506/cmhansrd/cm060306/text/60306w35.htm)
Fish
Youngs Seafood have launched a new line of sustainably-caught cod, becoming the first company to complete a deal for Alaskan line-caught Pacific cod to be supplied to the UK market, following certification of the fishery by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC). See: http://www.msc.org/html/ni_210.htm.
The Marine Conservation Society (MCS) is urging consumers to avoid eating endangered fish species, such as skate, and supermarkets to stop selling them. However, British fish processors are challenging the proposals claiming that the MCS stance could be very damaging for their businesses. See: http://www.mcsuk.org
World Trade Organisation (WTO) ruling on GM
The WTO ruled in February that any European ban on GM imports contravened the rules of free trade. However, Friends of the Earth, having acquired a leaked confidential WTO report, claim that the WTO did not rule on two of the most important questions before it, namely whether GM foods are effectively the same as non-GM foods, and if they are safe. The pressure group has launched an online action calling on the governments to reject the WTO as a forum to decide on what it calls "environmental trade disputes". See: http://www.bite-back.org/.
Food labelling and Europe
On 5th March, Italy made country-of-origin labelling mandatory on some tomato products as part of a trend towards making it harder for foreign food products to enter its market. Source: http://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/news/ng.asp?n=66382&m=1FNU315&c=hxzkwbvbrvoensm
On 13th March, the European Commission reopened debate on harmonising and increasing legislation on food labelling across the bloc. The EUs Directorate General for Health and Consumer Protection (SANCO) noted that member states have tended to favour regulation on harmonising labelling provisions in the bloc, although the move could lead to greater costs for businesses, especially small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). SANCO will consider alternatives to legislation and suitable presentation of labels, including use of logos. Source: http://www.confectionerynews.com/news/ng.asp?n=66367-labelling-nutrition-sanco
FOOD IN SCHOOLS AND CHILD CARE CENTRES
Education and Inspection Bill
The controversial Education and Inspection Bill, was published on 28th February. Government says it includes measures to support stronger partnership, new curriculum entitlements, better discipline and a powerful strategic role for local authorities. It also paves the way for new minimum food-based standards to be introduced in all schools by this September and nutrient-based standards from 2008. See: http://www.dfes.gov.uk/pns/DisplayPN.cgi?pn_id=2006_0018
School Food Trusts advice on standards for school food other than lunch
On 2nd March, the School Food Trust announced recommendations for nutritional standards for food offered across the school day, other than at lunch, including through vending machines, break times, breakfast clubs, after school clubs and tuck shops. The recommendations, out for consultation during March, include: no confectionery to be sold in schools; no bagged savoury snacks other than nuts and seeds without added sugar or salt; a variety of fresh fruit and vegetables to be made available; children to have access to fresh free chilled water at all times; and only bottled water, low fat milk, pure fruit juices, yogurt and milk drinks with less than five per cent sugar, tea and coffee to be available. See http://www.schoolfoodtrust.org.uk/images/downloads/nonlunch.pdf
School Meals and Snacks (Scotland) Bill
Frances Curran MSP has put forward a final proposal for a Bill to provide free school meals, water and milk in all local authority primary schools in Scotland; to give powers to Scottish Ministers to extend this provision to local authority secondary schools; to give powers to Scottish Ministers to regulate the sale and advertisement of consumable goods on school premises; to require Scottish Ministers to set nutritional standards for school meals and to establish a complaints procedure for pupils and parents in relation to these standards. See: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/businessBulletin/bb-06/bb-03-31g.htm
Dinner clubs
Children from deprived backgrounds could receive healthy evening meals at dinner clubs in Scottish schools, under an idea being considered by ministers. Health Minister Andy Kerr believes the move would reduce youngsters intake of sugary and fatty foods and help prevent a lifetime of poor health and sees the idea as a natural extension of breakfast clubs. Source: http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=506162006
Food in childcare centres
A report issued by Ofsted on 30th March, detailed below, revealed that in 110 child centres inspected, (including crèches, nurseries, childminders and before and after-school clubs), almost all were replacing biscuits with fruit, removing crisps and providing nutritious and balanced food for young people. Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1742292,00.html
Soil Association, Food for Life programme wins BEMAs
On 23rd March, the Soil Associations Food for Life programme won the Best Environment and Media Awards (BEMAs) Best Environment Campaign for raising awareness about the state of school meals. For details contact Victoria Record on 0117 0974580, vrecord@soilassociation.org .
RECENT PUBLICATIONS
Public Sector Food Procurement Initiative (PSFPI) website recent additions:
A new page to help catering units improve their environmental performance. See: http://www.defra.gov.uk/farm/sustain/procurement/envperform.htm.
New advice entitled, How procurement managers can make the nations lot a healthier and more prosperous one and gain some recognition in the process. Practitioners trying to encourage public bodies to procure more sustainable food may find this helpful. See: http://www.defra.gov.uk/farm/sustain/procurement/pdf/psfpi-procure.pdf.
The Catering Services and Food Procurement Toolkit has been revised to include a new model specification clause on farm assurance standards for unprocessed commodities and lightly processed food and drinks. See: http://www.defra.gov.uk/farm/sustain/procurement/toolkit.htm.
Smarter food procurement in the public sector, The National Audit Office
The NAO has investigated the way hospitals, schools, the Armed Forces and other public-service canteens spend money on food and drink. They found a large variation in the prices paid by the canteens for their stock and conclude that canteens were failing to negotiate best prices, even though lower priced goods were relatively easy to find, and as a result were wasting GBP220m each year. The report, available on http://www.nao.org.uk/publications/nao_reports/05-06/0506963_I.pdf , shows how public sector bodies can maintain or improve the quality of the meals they serve while controlling or reducing their costs. A guide on best practice and case studies are also available via the PSFPI web page, http://www.defra.gov.uk/farm/sustain/procurement/nao-smarterfood.htm.
Serving Time: Prisoner Diet and Exercise, The National Audit Office
The NAO has found that significant improvements have been made in HM Prison Services catering arrangements resulting in financial savings and improved quality of service. Since 2003-4, savings of some £2.5 million have been made each year from expenditure on food and some £1.7 million a year on catering staff. It claims that, on the whole, food offered to prisoners is in line with the Governments recommendations on healthy eating. However, average levels of salt are up to 93% more than recommended levels and offerings of dietary fibre are low. Prisoners meals rely heavily on convenience foods, such as pies, burgers, tinned food and frozen vegetables, with little use of seasonal produce. The report is available on http://www.nao.org.uk/publications/nao_reports/05-06/0506939.pdf
Healthy eating in schools and Food technology in secondary schools, Ofsted
The first report focuses on the standard of school meals. It concludes that the standard of meals has improved but that school lunch periods are often so short that pupils do not have time to make healthy eating choices or develop the social and personal skills associated with eating together. Also, most secondary schools are still offering high-fat options in vending machines. The second report focuses on school cookery lessons and concludes that pupils are spending too much time writing and not enough time learning how to cook nutritious meals. To view the reports see: http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/pressreleases/index.cfm?fuseaction=news.details&id=1741
5 A DAY posters
Posters, similar to ones used by Leisure Connection who are currently working with the Department of Health to implement the 5 A DAY campaign, are available to order for free by calling 08701 555 455 or emailing dh@prolog.uk.com
Promoting 5 A DAY toolkits
A new toolkit, How to Run a Cook n Eat Group is available to download from http://www.foodandhealth.org.uk/news/5ADay/Toolkits.asp . Other toolkits available, all based on the experiences of the 5 A DAY programme in the South East, include Running a Community Fruit and Veg Stall and Working with Retailers.
To include contributions to the public procurement roundup, which we try to circulate monthly, please send material to Kate Bowie at Sustain, mat@sustainweb.org .
www.sustainweb.org