Hospital Caterers Association - 2009 Week of Excellence
‘Sustainability and Local Purchasing’
Week commencing 26th October 2009
Here are some simple ideas and thoughts to get you started and for making a real difference in the HCA 2009 Week of Excellence. Also at the bottom of the page are some links to various online resources and organisations that could contribute to the success of your week.
Creativity
Meat, poultry, milk and eggs
Where possible use British produce first and to a high standard with regard toward animal welfare. RSPCA freedom foods or free range eggs or barn eggs or at least red tractor logo (farm assured)
- Offer vegetarian or vegan food selection using beans, lentils and other pulses rather than non British or an sustainable/organic alternative or meat from an unknown source. Make one day a week in the restaurant Red Meat Free. Use organic beef mince or Quorn mince, vegetarian choice, for the cheaper dishes i.e. lasagne or spaghetti bolognaise
- Use local sourced milk on day to day bases or organic milk one day a week or to a particular patient area i.e. paediatrics, the elderly or staff restaurant point of sale.
- Apparently there are more deer than cattle per head of the population. Try venison as an alternative (roasted, burgers or sausages).
Beverages
All tea sugar and coffee could be FAIRTRADE certified. Coffee beans those are organic for staff restaurant point of sale at a premium price. FAIRTRADE organic sugar sachets. Other retail FAIRTRADE or organic products available are dried fruit, nuts, juice and chocolate, are all good retail selling items.
- Offer tap water as an alternative to bottled
Bread and bread products
Promote wholemeal bread rather than white. Flour from a sustainable source or organic half baguettes (frozen from top suppliers) are a good way of providing a tasty alternative to a sandwich or bap. Use alternative fillings to meat i.e. roasted seasonal local vegetables.
Fish
Avoid species that are in danger of extinction look for the marine Stewardship council certified. Mackerel is popular and normally caught around the UK coastline from September to March is high in Omega-3, vitamin A & D, makes a superb pate.
Fruit and vegetables
Use British seasonal orchard fruit i.e. apples and pears now in season until March and are competitively priced and very much tastier than New Zealand and Cape. Use fruit instead of cakes, biscuits or salty snacks. Fruit is more readily accepted if cut up or portioned i.e. fruit salad.
- Offer British pure fruit juices as an alternative. Have an Apple day?
Serving a buffet
Consider a variety of seasonal fruit and vegetables as a crudity, couscous, rice dishes and pasta. Try to avoid unnecessary garnish on meals and snacks as this does always get eaten.
How do you and your staff come to work?
Do you drive in alone or use public transport? Think of ways to minimise your impact on the environment during your daily commute possibly through car sharing - or even by walking!
Waste cooking oil
Consider having it recycled into bio fuels to run vehicles which are used for charitable causes.
Recycling, reduce waste
Use reusable crockery and cutlery before disposables, if you must use disposables use biodegradable compostable or recycling items. Consider the disposal of packaging including cardboard, plastic milk bottles, aluminium and tin cans and consider composting food waste using proven technologies such as anaerobic digester. Work with your estates colleagues towards water metering, timed electrical supply. Contact your local re-cycling company for composting food waste. To reduce the amount of waste food that ends up eventually in land fill.
Utility Services
Can you make savings on your utility bills by repairing dripping taps or by switching off kitchen equipment when not in use?
These suggestions are not new and you may already be undertaking some of these in your hospitals as part of good practice. But the HCA 2009 Week of Excellence will give you an opportunity to emphasize and promote these activities and to see what more you could be doing. It will help to further reduce your department’s carbon footprint and increase your use of sustainable resources.
Food For Thought
The secret to any success for a sustainable service in the NHS for the future is collaboration with others in the public sector on food procurement. Remember that between 20 and 30 per cent of the global warming caused by human activity is contributed by our food and agriculture systems. Of the £500 million we spend on producing meals in the NHS per annum if only 10% were attributed to local purchasing this will give the British farmer and supplier a £50 million boost to local job creation, reduce carbon foot printing and developing businesses. What an achievement for the Hospital Caterers.
Kevan Wallace
National Chairman, Hospital Caterers Association
Online Resources and Organisations
The DoH and NHS PASA have kindly allowed the HCA to use this best practice guide and any of its content to help us promote the HCA 2009 Week of Excellence activities in our Trusts and hospitals.
Copies of the Guide can be downloaded from the Department of Health website: www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_098881 or from the NHS PASA website: www.pasa.nhs.uk/PASAWeb/NHSprocurement/Sustainabledevelopment/Sustainablefood/Health.htm
HCA 2009 Week of Excellence Poster
Download a pdf of the promotional poster (A4 size-550Kb / A3 size-900Kb)
The Alliance for Better Food and Farming
www.sustainweb.org
Marine Stewardship Council - Sustainable Fishing Certification
www.msc.org
NHS Forest
Download NHS Forest info
NHS Sustainability
www.corporatecitizen.nhs.uk
Organic Food Promotion and Certification
www.soilassociationweb.uk
Promoting British produce
www.lovebritishfood.co.uk
Recycling and Composting Disposables
www.vegware.co.uk
Seasonal Food
www.eatseasonably.co.uk
Sustainable Development in the NHS
www.sdu.ns.uk
Tips from the Agriculture & Horticulture Development Board
Download ahdb_sustain.pdf
You may require the free Acrobat Reader to open the file.
