Whilst growing our own fruit and veg is a great way to eat more minimally processed foods, ultra-processed foods still dominate our diets. British people eat more ultra-processed foods (UPFs) than anyone else in Europe: they make up 65% of our children’s diets and over 50% of our shopping baskets.
We want to make minimally processed food more accessible, and one barrier we often see is knowing how to cook them in a way that doesn’t need lots of fancy equipment or cooking skills. Recently, the Food for Life Lancashire team delivered training on ultra-processed and minimally processed foods to 22 teachers, who will go on to share their new skills with pupils, colleagues and the wider school community.
Over the past year our expert training team have collaborated closely with two primary schools in Hull, with funding from The Joseph and Annie Cattle Trust, to codesign a bespoke framework for primary schools to deliver curriculum activities with a focus on wellbeing, enjoying nature and eating for good health.
A big well done to Stanton Under Bardon primary school in Leicestershire who have achieved their Food for Life Bronze Award! We were pleased to welcome two members of staff to Food for Life training in January, where they learnt how to cook aloo tikki, potato cakes made with onion and spices. Following training, they took the recipe back to school to teach pupils during one of their food events.
St Mary’s Catholic School in Leicestershire have now achieved their Food for Life Gold Award, making them the seventh school in the area to achieve this top award. The school have embraced a whole setting approach to food whole-heartedly, ensuring it’s a staple part of the school day, not just at lunchtime.
The University of Bristol have achieved bronze Food for Life certification for the third year running, highlighting their dedication to serving healthy and sustainable food to staff and students across five sites.
RA Venues have once again shown their commitment to serving healthy and sustainable food. They’ve renewed their Food for Life Served Here silver certification at their Bristol attractions.
Big congratulations to St Mary's C of E School in Hinckley, Leicestershire, who have achieved their Food for Life Gold Award. This it the highest level of the Food for Life Schools Award and is proof of a school’s exceptional dedication to building a good food culture.
Holy Cross enrolled into the Food for Life programme in July 2024 and since then have been hard at work improving their school food culture. Their first step was to set up a SNAG – a school nutrition action group – made up of pupils and staff who want to effect change.
Last week, we went to the Houses of Parliament to make our voices heard on universal free school meals. A new report from Barnardo’s has revealed that nearly one in five UK parents have to buy unhealthy food for their children because they can’t afford healthier options, whilst School Food Matters reported that 25% of teachers use their own money to feed pupils.
We wanted to find out how we can best support children to develop a love for fresh, healthy, minimally processed food. What are the policy solutions that could help shift children’s diets? How do we collectively instil a love of good food from an early age?
We work with local authorities across the UK to make good food the norm, supporting schools nurseries and caterers to serve up freshly prepared food and get people connected with where food comes from. One part of this is running training sessions for teachers and school staff so that they can learn new skills to bring back to their school and pass on to pupils.
