Royal recognition of school meals success, UK

Main Category: Nutrition / Diet
Article Date: 20 Jun 2005 - 11:00 PDT

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Prince Charles, Duke of Rothesay, will congratulate staff and children in an East Ayrshire school on 21 June on their achievements transforming school meals.

His Royal Highness, Patron of the Soil Association, together with the Duchess of Rothesay will visit Hurlford Primary School, where the Scottish Executive's Hungry for Success programme is being combined with the Soil Association's Food for Life project, with remarkable results.

Food for Life targets - established by the Soil Association in 2003 - specify that at least 30% of food served should be from organic sources, 50% from local sources and 75% from unprocessed ingredients. Hurlford, which joined the project in August 2004, has exceeded all of these targets.

The Scottish Executive's Hungry for Success report (published in November 2002) set out recommendations for improving school meals. The report's recommendations included a requirement for meals to include at least two portions of fruit and vegetables and restrictions on fizzy drinks and chips.

Pam Rodway, Co-ordinator for Food for Life Scotland, said: "The combination of Hungry for Success and Food for Life can offer far-reaching changes to the way children eat and think about food and to the way the local economy is involved in delivering meals to schools.

"Education forms another important element of Food for Life and we encourage schools to talk about food and farming and visit organic farms. Visits to the school by local suppliers have illustrated the link from farm to fork and cookery classes have been offered to parents. Everyone at Hurlford has responded enthusiastically to the challenges set by Food for Life."

Hurlford Primary School's Catering Manager, Margaret Paterson, said: "The children really like the pizza! We make the sauce from lots of different vegetables - courgettes, carrots, tomatoes, green and red peppers, onions and garlic. So, when they eat a slice of pizza they're getting a whole range of veggies, but they don't realise it. We try to encourage them all the time to eat healthily and we must be doing something right, because we sell more vegetables and salads than we ever have."

The school is working to the framework provided by the Soil Association's Food For Life project. For more information, visit soilassociation.org/foodforlife.

For media enquiries please contact Susie Orr on 0131 666 2474 or sorr@soilassociation.org.

http://www.soilassociation.org

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