West Dunbartonshire Council Celebrates 3 years of Fresh, Local Food
West Dunbartonshire catering teams are celebrating after the council renewed its Food for Life Served Here bronze award for the third time.
The council, which first received the award in 2021, is now serving over 8000 nutritious, sustainable and locally-sourced Food for Life meals across 65 sites, including secondary schools, primary schools and nurseries.
The hard work and dedication of all involved has once again been recognised by the widely respected and independently assessed scheme led by Soil Association Scotland and funded by Scottish Government. The Food for Life Scotland programme provides a framework through which local authorities can ensure they are serving food that’s good for health, the environment, and the economy.
The Bronze award recognises that a minimum of 75 percent of dishes are freshly prepared from unprocessed ingredients. Meals are free from undesirable trans fats, sweeteners, additives and all genetically modified ingredients. Catering teams also use free range eggs, higher welfare meat and ingredients from sustainable and ethical sources.
The Council runs an annual menu to ensure they are serving seasonal produce. Scottish produce currently being used in schools includes carrots, baking potatoes, new potatoes, tomatoes, lettuces, cabbage and red onions. Scottish apples, strawberries, brambles, pears and plums are also used in seasonal crumbles.
To communicate seasonality to the children in West Dunbartonshire’s nursery and primary schools, catering staff run sessions with the children to show them what local produce has gone into the latest seasonal dish.
West Dunbartonshire have two Food for Life Scotland Ambassadors, who invest time visiting the Primary 1 introduction days to help promote the Food for Life Served Here Award and the Healthy Eating in Schools approach. A number of primary schools in West Dunbartonshire grow their own fruit and vegetables, teaching children about the journey from farm to fork, as well as sustainability. Growing vegetables in schools also helps to minimise food miles and food waste. Catering staff have also started their own bespoke QMS cookery demonstrations in the High Schools showing the benefit of purchasing Scotch Beef, Scotch Pork and Scotch Lamb.
Meals at West Dunbartonshire schools are created using Scottish produce where possible and are freshly prepared with seasonal ingredients. The catering teams work closely with suppliers to source fresh, local and sustainable ingredients as part of its Food for Life certified meals.
Chief Officer of Citizen, Culture and Facilities, Amanda Graham, said: “We are very proud of the food we serve with all meals providing a great variety of fresh and nutritious meals to our pupils and young people. I am delighted we have renewed our Food for Life Served Here and I would like to thank our two ambassadors and all the catering teams who work so hard to ensure such a high quality menu is available each day for our children.”
Sarah Duley, Head of Food, Food for Life Scotland, said: “Congratulations to West Dunbartonshire for renewing their Food for Life Served Here Bronze Award for another year. This is a huge achievement and shows that staff are dedicated to providing pupils with a hot, nutritious meal that’s healthy, freshly prepared and sustainably produced. We are delighted to recognise West Dunbartonshire for continuing to put more good food on school plates and for supporting Scotland’s food businesses and Good Food Nation ambitions.”