Grants support local food hygiene and nutrition schemes
Wednesday 18 October 2006
Twelve local authorities have been awarded grants of between £7,000 and £15,000 by the Food Standards Agency to promote food hygiene and healthy eating messages.
These grants have been awarded by the Agency each year since 2003. Initially, grants were awarded solely for food hygiene initiatives, but since 2005 the scheme has been extended to incorporate projects aimed at improving both food hygiene and nutritional standards.
The scheme addresses targets in the Agency's Strategic Plan 2005-2010 to support local food hygiene and healthy eating initiatives, particularly where they relate to schools and vulnerable people.
Birmingham City Council
'Healthy Tums in Brum' is a project targeted at young people aged 13 and 14 and aims to provide information about both nutrition and hygiene in a practical way.
Officers from Birmingham City Council Food Safety Team will present a one-hour workshop at 11 schools (one in each parliamentary constituency) promoting the 4 Cs for good hygiene and delivering the nutritional message to encourage young people to reduce their intake of fat, sugar and salt and make healthy eating choices.
Pupils at each school will have the chance to enter a competition to design a healthy two-course meal and drink costing less than
10. These meals will be judged on food hygiene during preparation, taste and the nutritional value of the meals, with the winning group from each school invited to represent their constituency at a Birmingham-wide final. Each participant in the scheme will receive a commemorative certificate, mug and healthy meals cook book, with the winning school receiving
500 in sports and book vouchers.
For more information on the scheme please contact Caroline Wade on 0121 303 4111
Email: Caroline.Wade@birmingham.gov.uk
Bristol City Council
Cooking skills courses will be run for older teenagers (14+) and young parents on low incomes in Knowle West, South Bristol. �Taster� sessions in September 2006 will be followed by an 8-week cooking course, repeated in January 2007. Courses will involve selection and cooking of affordable healthy meals, provide advice on domestic food hygiene issues and provide opportunities to discuss how to maintain an affordable and healthy diet.
For more information on the scheme contact Grace Davies on 0117 922 3409
Email: grace_davies@bristol-city.gov.uk
Chelmsford Borough Council
The project aims to reduce health risks faced by older people in the home by improving awareness of the problems associated with poor food hygiene practices and poor diet. Activities will focus on the safe storage of high-risk foods (understanding shelf life, labelling and refrigerator temperature) and the benefits of eating healthily in older life.
Chelmsford Borough Council will work in partnership with Age Concern Chelmsford through luncheon clubs, home helps, managers of supported and sheltered housing, and the Borough�s Older Persons� Forum.
For more information on the scheme contact Jane Smith on 01245 606362
Email: janesmith@chelmsford.gov.uk
Exeter City Council
'Get Cookin�!� will provide a series of practical cooking skills courses embedded with food safety and nutrition awareness education. These courses will provide a path to related qualifications and work experience for a wide range of targeted groups, with special emphasis on disadvantaged teenagers.
Course materials will be developed in conjunction with Exeter Primary Care Trust and Exeter College and delivered by a number of specialist tutors. Additional community food workers will be trained to ensure that the course continues after March 2007.
For more information on the scheme contact Nick Mann on 01392 265792
Email: nick.mann@exeter.gov.uk
Kent Trading Standards & Kent Scientific Services
This is a joint project by the trading standards and scientific services (public analysts) of Kent County Council. The project aims, through participatory activities delivered by trading standards and scientific services staff, to provide primary school pupils (and their families) with the knowledge to choose a balanced diet. The involvement of the County�s scientific services enables the �science of healthy eating and food� to be introduced in a practical and visually engaging way.
For more information on the scheme contact Susan Harvey on 01622 221012
Email: susan.harvey@kent.gov.uk
Mid Devon District Council
The initiatives involves Cooking Skills Sessions for Teenagers and Young Parents – 'Working with young people to promote cooking skills in the community'.
The initiative will target vulnerable young adults living alone and teenage mothers, and will offer facilities to some teenagers to obtain a level two qualification in food hygiene.
The project aims to deliver a range of Cooking Skills Sessions for young people in the area, with attendees receiving a resource pack.
The sessions will have a facilitator and will utilise trained existing tutors from the community in the hope that the activities will continue in the future.
For more information on the scheme contact Tina Henry on 01884 244606
Email: thenry@middevon.gov.uk
Northamptonshire County Council
A competition is being run in schools for primary and secondary pupils to design a day�s worth of menu ideas for hot meals or packed lunches. Menus from schools (one week per school) will then be produced as a book to be sent to parents, caterers, schools and early-years settings, and distributed to all 330 schools in Northamptonshire.
The project will improve understanding of nutritional standards both in and out of school and help schools, parents and caterers adopt healthy menus that have been created by pupils themselves. Pupils will be able to cook (or make) their own menu at school to provide continuity between food technology lessons and school dinner catering, and learn to prepare and cook at home with parents and carers.
For more information on the scheme contact Ruth O�Donnell on 01604 236289
Email: rodonnell@northamptonshire.gov.uk
Shepway District Council
An interactive play will be taken into all the primary schools in the Shepway district (Folkestone, Hythe and Romney Marsh) to educate young children on why and how to eat healthily, and the importance of exercise. This will provide a fun and entertaining way to communicate basic healthy eating messages and enable children to take these messages back to their families.
For more information on the scheme contact Alison Wood on 01303 853242
Email: Alison.Wood@shepway.gov.uk
Somerset County Council
'Eat Well, Stay Well'. This project will create a DVD and information pack, which will improve nutritional/healthy eating knowledge amongst adults with learning disabilities and their carers, and tackle ongoing health problems caused by lack of knowledge and understanding.
Because of their difficulties with communication, learning disabled people have difficulty in understanding the key concepts linked to healthy eating, but at the same time, are likely to suffer the effects of poor nutrition more keenly than the general population.
The aim of �Eat Well, Stay Well' is to create a DVD that will make the key messages of good nutrition far more accessible to learning-disabled people. The project builds on the success of Germ Academy, a film on food hygiene made with learning disabled actors last year, which is now being used in domestic and commercial settings as a training tool. The hope is that the DVD, once made, can be widely distributed so as to achieve maximum positive impact.
For more information on the scheme contact Steve Jones on 01278 455571
Email: SAJones@somerset.gov.uk
St Alban's, Hertsmere and Welwyn Hatfield Councils
This is a project by the Environmental Health Training Consortium, (a combination of St Albans City and District Council, Welwyn Hatfield Council and Hertsmere Borough Council).
'Practical Skills for the National Science Curriculum' will produce twin Teaching Packs for Hygiene and Nutrition for use with Key Stage 4 science pupils in secondary schools and to deliver two short course qualifications in food hygiene and nutrition (CIEH Foundation certificates in Food Hygiene and Nutrition).
For more information on the scheme contact Sandra Hone on 01707 357202
Email: s.hone@welhat.gov.uk
Sunderland City Council
This project aims to improve cooking skills, nutrition knowledge, budgeting skills and food hygiene practices among vulnerable young people and their carers in Sunderland, in order to prepare them for independent adult life. It will encourage all children leaving care or disengaged young people to be trained in nutrition, cooking skills and related aspects.
Carers will also be trained on how to deliver cook and eat sessions, and a cook and eat pack (in order to train the trainers) will be developed with the intention of gaining accreditation from the open college.
The project will be delivered in partnership with Sunderland Teaching Primary Care Trust.
For more information on the scheme contact Susan Goodchild on 0191 5531705
Email: Susan.Goodchild@sunderland.gov.uk
Wyre Forest District Council
The project will promote healthy eating, food hygiene, and cooking skills to around 200 school pupils via a Fantastic Food competition.
A series of cooking skills and nutrition sessions will be provided to 25 teenagers. Free basic food hygiene training will be offered to 20 staff from middle and primary schools. A previous project found such training enables cookery clubs and breakfast clubs to be held within schools. The project will also offer food hygiene, preparation and tasting sessions to 150 children aged 5-12 in after school clubs. The project will be delivered in partnership with Wyre Forest Primary Care Trust.
For more information on the scheme contact Lynette Jones on 01562 732569
Email: lynette.jones@wyreforestdc.gov.uk