Food Champion Awards

Eleven regional and local Food Champions winners were announced by the Agency in April 2008 and on 10 June the national champions were announced. All winners were presented awards at a parliamentary reception at the House of Commons.

The two national winners of the first Food Champion Awards for local authorities are Westminster City Council, for its work with the Chinese business community, and Bristol City Council for its community diet and nutrition initiatives.

The other winners, by theme, were:

Improving food safety and food standards

• Birmingham City Council – West Midlands Regional Champions
• Cambridgeshire County Council – East of England Regional Champion
• London Borough of Islington – Food Champion
• London Boroughs (consortium of all London local authorities) – Food Champion

Improving community diet and nutrition

• Cardiff Council – Wales Champion
• Huntingdonshire District Council – East of England Regional Champion
• Manchester City Council – North West Regional Champion
• Oxford City Council/Oxfordshire County Council – South East Regional Champion
• Rushcliffe Borough Council – East Midlands Regional Champion

Although all award winners will have demonstrated excellence and innovation in delivering positive outcomes for their communities, being a Food Champion does not stop with the award itself. Winners will be working with the Agency and other organisations in the coming year to champion their approach, and learning to encourage and share good practice.

David Statham, FSA Director of Consumer Protection and Enforcement, said: ‘Winning a Food Champion Award is a major achievement and a clear recognition of the outstanding work done by local authorities in improving food safety and community diet and nutrition in their area. As a Food Champion they will have demonstrated good practice and shown outstanding commitment to making their local community a better place to live.’

Details of all the winning initiatives can be found in the June 2008 issue of FSA News (pages 7-12) at the link towards the end of this page.

Launched in October 2007, the awards aim to complement local government good practice awards, including the Beacon Scheme, and builds on the experience of the Agency’s existing awards scheme for community-based good practice – the Sheila McKechnie Awards, which recognises community groups’ achievements.

The Agency has developed the Food Champion Awards with its partners; the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health, the Trading Standards Institute, the Local Authorities Coordinators of Regulatory Services and the Improvement and Development Agency.