How are Food for Life Served Here standards set?

How are Food for Life Served Here standards set?

Our standards-setting process has high levels of scrutiny and governance. Our standards aim to be stretching and ambitious, yet practical and achievable.

The Food for Life Served Here standards are set by an independent Standards Task and Finish Group, formed of industry experts from each sector in which the scheme operates.

 

2023 members of the Food for Life Served Here Task and Finish Group

Name	Expertise
Ian Bretman (Chair)	NED and Board Chair of organisations with complex stakeholder relationships and accountabilities. Passionate advocate for sustainability and social justice. Successful, international leadership career with key roles with Fairtrade network, enabling its ethical assurance business to achieve global scale, reach and recognition.
Claire Clark (deputy chair)	An environment and sustainability expert, a practitioner of the Institute of Environmental Management & Assessment (IEMA) working in the Hospitality and Food Service sector, building environmental programmes that tackle climate, nature and health issues.
Ellen Fletcher	Former DEFRA food policy team member
Eloise Redmayne	Dietician, public health, experience working with caterers to deliver FFLSH in her community (Northeast) high levels of deprivation
Dain Son Robinson	Sustainability specialist private and public sectors, environmental and social sustainability projects at a strategic, operational, grassroots level to support value-driven change within large organizations.
Helena Diffey	Former Policy Team Lead at Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Mark Driscoll	Founder and Director at Tasting the Future, Sustainable, Healthy Food Systems Consultant, Thought Leader, Mentor, Speaker
Rob Kidd	Food, waste and project management, sustainability and strategic thinking
Stephanie Lykourgou	Sustainability & Resilience Strategist, specialising in the food industry.
Robin Gourlay	Semi-Retired from Scottish Government Food and Drink Policy and Associate at Scotland Food and Drink
Rich Osborn	Short supply chain and procurement expert, business working with LAs to deliver local produce to local schools
Judith Hanvey	Norther Ireland Food in Schools Lead, Nutritionist, AfN Regional Representative, Boardroom Apprentice 2022-23 Food Standards Agency
Craig Neale	Catering expert worked with the FFLSH award as Catering Account Manager, Compliance Manager and Operations Manager

 

Recruitment to the Food for Life Served Here (FFLSH) Task and Finish Group takes place through an open process at the Chair's discretion. The Chair is appointed by the Chair of the Soil Association Standards Board, who is appointed by our Board of Trustees.

Vacancies for the Food for Life Served Here Standards Committee are always advertised on our website and in Food for Life Served Here e-news.

Changes to the standards

The process of developing the Food for Life Served Here standards, follows the same principles as the development of the Soil Association organic standards.

Proposals to amend the standards are considered by the FFLSH Task and Finish Group. They discuss proposals in detail to ensure that any standards changes would have the right impact. If they agree a proposal would enhance the relevance of the standards, passes the impact filters and is in line with the objectives and principles of the FFLSH Award, they conduct a public consultation.

We follow the ISEAL guidelines for sustainability standard-setting to ensure that our standard-setting approach is open and transparent. Consultations are open for 60 days and are always publicised on our website and in FFLSH e-news.

We welcome feedback from caterers, industry experts and members of the public. All consultation feedback is taken into account and a final recommendation is made to our independent Standards Board, which takes a strategic overview of all of our standard-setting activity. Lay members sit on the Standards Board, to ensure that its recommendations are in line with public and consumer expectations.

The Standards Board reports into our Board of Trustees, which is responsible for overseeing all of the work of the Soil Association Group.

We are open and transparent and encourage everyone to play their part in this process, particularly through our public consultations on standards proposals.