FEATURE FOCUS: SUSTAINABILITY
support arranged by allmanhall. By 7 July, the catering team had become familiar with the user- friendly platform and were able to add recipes to the system. Their package allowed for 200 recipes, initially, but they quickly took the decision to increase this. Epsom College currently has over 1000 recipes listed on Foodsteps. Informative posters have been made to encourage pupils to select low carbon, highly nutritious ‘Hero Dishes’ and to educate pupils on the carbon impact of their menu option, and to make the messages of ‘farm to fork’ very clear. They are working to debunk the myths associated with sustainability approaches that focus purely on local supply rather than what we eat. The average carbon intensity of their recipes is 5.21kg CO2e/kg, and 23% of their recipes (86/369) have Very Low Scores. Their lowest impact meal is Carrot and Coriander Soup with a carbon intensity of 0.13kg CO2e/kg. Epsom College are working with allmanhall and Foodsteps on further hero recipes and on combining carbon impact assessments with nutrition and dietetic advice, to ensure ongoing compliance to the School Food Standards and the School Food Plan from the Department for Education.
can also help support a school’s journey towards creating healthier more sustainable menus. There is no cost for the award. Proveg have created a checklist of school food actions, most of which are evidence-based actions that are proven to help children to eat healthier and more sustainable meals. Depending on how many of these actions are taken, a Bronze, Silver, or Gold award can be achieved with Proveg, working to maintain or better your standard.
One good example of where action is being taken now to improve the menu offering with
more sustainable choices, is at Epsom College. As part of their sustainability and well-being focus, they wanted to educate pupils about the carbon impact of their food, as well as making pupils’ dining experience more sustainable. In mid–June 2022 they took the decision to increase the transparency and availability of data by assessing the carbon impact of their menus, using the partnership between allmanhall and Foodsteps.
Epsom College went live on the Foodsteps platform on 1 July 2022, with initial training and
“At Epsom College, we are continually looking at the ways in which we can become more sustainable and teach our pupils about the food that they eat, where it comes from and the environmental impact of food choices,” commented Bev Spencer, Director of Catering at Epsom College.
“When people think about sustainability, often packaging and supply chains spring to mind, which of course is important, but we need to look at the food itself and this was a key reason why we chose to enter into this partnership with allmanhall and Foodsteps. It has been incredibly insightful and informative so far, for both my team as well as our pupils, and I look forward to starting the second phase.”
December 2023
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