Top of the Press: local healthy food
14 September 2006
 Local healthy food has been getting broad media coverage, with children’s liking for fruit and the need for supermarkets to do more to improve their food sourcing, amongst the subjects highlighted.
A report by the National Consumer Council (NCC) that looked at the UK’s eight top eight food chains found them wanting in the four areas of food transport, waste, nature and sustainable farming.
Amongst their comments in support of local food purchasing was that these companies should cut their importation of out-of –season produce – although Waitrose was praised for its policies on sustainable sourcing.
The NCC asks all the stores to step up their sourcing of UK seasonal produce, to increase their support of sustainable farming, and to reduce the amount of food transported long distances.
A demand for healthy eating is also made by the children of East Ayrshire, as a report commissioned by the Scottish Executive reveals. East Ayrshire Council has run a pilot project to provide healthy food menus to 11 primary schools, and their catering manager Robin Gourlay commented:
“We deliberately spread the pilot across all different sorts of communities….. By buying in more good, local food, there is pride in the fact that their meals come from the area.”
In addition to eating local food children have also had visits to local farms so that they can learn more about its origins.
And the children want more! The report states that four out of five of them would like to see more fruit on the menu, and nearly half insist that they don’t like processed food.
Environment and Rural Development Minister, Ross Finnie commented:
“I want to see councils across Scotland looking at their tendering processes and trying out this approach in their schools, so we can really start to buy local and eat local.”
The Scottish Executive has also published its Schools (Health Promotion and Nutrition) (Scotland) Bill which aims to ensure that only healthy, nutritious meals and snacks are served in schools – but stops short of recommending that councils seek to source food locally – instead concentrating on meeting strict nutritional standards, providing healthy snacks and increasing the uptake and benefits of schools meals and free school meals.
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