Six Years Bronze in East Renfrewshire
East Renfrewshire pupils are enjoying fresh, local and sustainable school meals, which have once again been recognised with the Soil Association Scotland’s Food for Life Served Here Bronze award.
Freshly prepared, seasonal ingredients are at the heart of East Renfrewshire’s primary school meal menus under the Food for Life Scotland programme. East Renfrewshire Council has held the award for the last six years, recognising their achievement in putting more seasonal food on school dinner plates and serving freshly-prepared, sustainable meals.
The Food for Life Served Here award recognises and rewards councils that are serving food made from fresh ingredients, using free-range eggs and high-welfare meat, and free from genetically modified ingredients and undesirable additives.
East Renfrewshire Council serves 3,000 Food for Life accredited meals a day across their 27 certified primary schools.
Councillor Paul O'Kane, Convener for Education and Equalities at East Renfrewshire Council, said: “To gain this accreditation for the sixth year in a row is testament to the hard work and dedication of our fantastic catering staff. We know that food is so important for fuelling our children and young people's minds to ensure they are ready to learn. This recognition from Food for Life just highlights that all the meals being provided in our schools are not only tasty, but healthy too, and use well-sourced local ingredients.”
Pupils learn about seasonal eating
As part of the Council’s work towards the Food for Life Served Here award, primary schools pupils enjoy a seasonal menu updated twice a year. Staff choose from a variety of fruit and vegetables using the Food for Life seasonality chart, and help pupils learn more about what it means to eat seasonally by displaying posters in the dining hall.
With the winter chill still in the air, pupils are eating veggies including kale, fresh beetroot, onions, carrots and potatoes in meals including Italian chicken pasta bake and sausages in gravy with mash and seasonal vegetables.
Irene Mclaughlin of Failte Produce said: “A huge congratulations to East Renfrewshire Council on retaining this accolade. We are delighted to work in partnership with the council, delivering a wide variety of locally sourced fresh produce and helping them implement this scheme. Fruit and vegetables are a great source of the nutrients children require and form part of a healthy, balanced diet. We deliver fruit and vegetables to schools and nurseries daily to ensure freshness. We believe that eating well should be an adventure and we actively work alongside the council to encourage this.”
Award is proof of hard work and commitment
Congratulations to East Renfrewshire for achieving the bronze award for a sixth time.
Sarah Duley, Head of Food at Soil Association Scotland, said: "Huge congratulations to East Renfrewshire on this fantastic achievement. Renewing their Food for Life Served Here award is proof of the hard work and commitment of everyone involved in school meal provision, especially the catering staff. We’re delighted to celebrate East Renfrewshire’s continued commitment to providing fresh, healthy and sustainable school food, and their support of Scottish producers and suppliers.”