HEALTHY UPDATE
by doing so they stand to see their business grow. Requiring no agriculture
inputs or processing, natural source water also has one of the lowest carbon footprints of any drink.
CQUIN As health guidelines go, the mandatory NHS health & wellbeing CQUIN 1b indicator, which requires food to be healthy and nutritious, is of particular significance as it is driving healthier snacking where it’s needed most – in hospitals and healthcare facilities.
A big supporter of the CQUIN guidelines is Damien Lee, CEO and founder of Mr Lee’s Pure Foods who has previously spent a lot of time in hospitals battling cancer. Damien says: “As you can imagine, throughout my
battle with cancer I spent a lot of time in hospitals. Up until recently, the food on offer really was in an appalling state. In a place where gaining health is the main focus, the sheer amount of foods high in sugar, salt and saturated fats is, honestly, shaming.” He continues: “That is why I couldn’t be happier to
see the CQUIN 1b goal of ‘healthier food for NHS staff, visitors and patients’. This is exactly why I developed my healthier instant noodles. Foods that are full of nutrition don’t have to be tasteless, or any less convenient, and with the rise in hot food technologies in the vending scene this equals a drastic shift in what can be offered. “It’s never been more important for hospital caterers to
open their eyes to the products available to them, and what percentage of their range should be lower in fat, salt and sugar, not only for the patients and visitors, but especially for the staff.
“I know first-hand just how much effort is put into looking after the
likes of myself, and having a good, nutritious meal on hand in the small hours of the night will, if anything, provide a much better service to their patients, never mind have a positive impact upon their own health.” “If there’s one message I want to get across, it’s that healthier options really are out there, and they’re in plain view. We’re not alone in leading this charge and I couldn’t be more excited for the future of healthy vending in hospitals.”
HOT AND HEALTHY Hot beverages can be overlooked in whether or not they can be made healthier, but if you examine what’s added to tea or coffee there may well be opportunity for improvement. Take the milk for instance, it is possible, at least one supplier contends, to substitute powdered milk with a version that is 100 per cent dairy, healthy, skinny and skimmed. Karen Green, marketing manager at Aimia Foods says: “Consumer demand for healthy products has never been as big as it as now, particularly within the vending market. “However, despite the fact that many operators have embraced
this demand by stocking a wide range of healthy snacks and cold beverages, when it comes to vended hot beverages, a large proportion of operators are still using un-nutritional ingredients, particularly when it comes to milk powder. Amia Foods solution to this is its Milfresh
Gold product which Karen describes has having been made using the highest quality milk, to produce a rich and creamy taste but is also “packed with the same nutrition as skimmed milk making it the ideal ingredient for operators who are looking to offer high quality, healthy beverages”. There has been a sea change is snacking
habits with growing demand for healthy treats from vending machines. Suppliers are following suit by innovating to meet the demand while government has played its part too. It’s now up to the operators to up their game and join the club.
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