[ORGANISATION NAME] Healthy & Sustainable Food Policy
[ORGANISATION NAME] recognises its responsibility to carry out its procurement activities in
an environmentally and socially responsible manner, and the considerable influence we have in
using our buying power to encourage healthy and sustainable food production and consumption.
We will strive to incorporate environmental and social considerations into our product and
service selection process. We recognise that it is our responsibility to encourage our suppliers
and contractors to minimise negative environmental and social effects associated with the
products and services they provide. We will also strive to ensure that local and smaller suppliers
are not discriminated against in the procurement process and specifications and that they are
encouraged to participate in tendering opportunities *.
Specifically, we aim to:
 Give preference to products and services that are manufactured, and can be used and
disposed of, in an environmentally and socially responsible way.
 Ensure that sustainability criteria are included in specifications to suppliers.
 Ensure that agreed sustainability criteria are used in the award of contracts.
 Ensure that internal purchasers regularly audit their consumption of goods and materials in
order to increase and maintain usage of sustainable products.
 Enhance employee awareness of relevant environmental and social effects of purchases
through appropriate training, via induction programmes and in continuing professional
development.
 Provide guidance and relevant product information to staff members to allow them to select
sustainable products and services.
 Ensure non-discrimination against smaller suppliers and encourage them to participate in
tendering opportunities.
To allow us to meet our aims we will:
 Develop clear objectives, with all our stakeholders, backed up by detailed targets, to
minimise the environmental and social effects associated with the products and services we
purchase.
 Identify the mechanisms that we intend to use to incorporate environmental and social
factors into our product selection process.
 Develop performance indicators and evaluation criteria to measure our progress.
 Clearly specify the role that purchasing officers will play in the identifying and selecting
sustainable products and services.
 Conduct purchasing audits to identify good practice and areas for improvement.
 Identify and implement necessary changes to the procurement process and specifications to
ensure non-discrimination against local and smaller suppliers.
 Examine this Sustainable Food Policy on at least an annual basis and assess whether the
targets have been reached and if, therefore, they can be raised.
 Build responsibility for the management of this policy into the job description of all catering
staff.
[ORGANISATION’S NAME] Commitments and Targets:
We will apply this food policy to all of our catering outlets and food served for events, including
vending machines. We will ensure this policy is fully reflected in our catering tenders and
contract(s) (if applicable).
Overall target: A minimum of [PERCENTAGE xx%] of our total food budget will be spent on
sustainable1 produce. In detail, our commitments and targets are as follows:
Communication

Each quarter we will communicate our food policy, and specific information about what we
are doing to improve the sustainability of our food, to service users, visitors and staff via e.g.
the staff intranet, newsletters and notice-boards.
Training

Recognising our responsibility as an employer, catering staff will be trained in food
sustainability. As a minimum staff will be aware of the various certification systems and their
relevance for food production and food products that XXX(name of organisation) use.
Fruit and Vegetables

By [DATE xxxx 20xx]* we will make sure all our menus reflect the seasons - at least three
(major) items per dish will be served in the season it is naturally abundant in this country.

Seasonal fruit will always be stocked in preference to out of season fruit.

Recognising the importance of orchards to biodiversity we stock orchard fruit when in season
and juice products all year.

We will ensure that [PERCENTAGE xx%] of fresh, seasonal orchard fruits (apples, pears,
plums, etc), purchased between the months of August and March and [PERCENTAGE xx%]
of fresh soft fruit (berries, currants, etc) purchased between the months of April to
September are grown to Farm Assured standards or equivalent.

Where possible we will build links through our suppliers to the growers of fruit and
vegetables used in our catering, and promote to staff our commitment to supporting these
growers and their communities.

We will monitor the amount of fruit and vegetables we purchase under the following schemes
Entry Level Stewardship or Higher Level Stewardship scheme; LEAF-Marque certification
and Organic certification, and aim to increase the proportion of such produce over time.
* Within 3 months of the date the policy was signed.
** A date within 6 months of the date the policy was signed.
1 For a definition of sustainable food please go to www.sustainweb.org/sustainablefood
Meat and Dairy

We are committed to ensuring that 100% of the livestock produce (meat and dairy) meets
the Red Tractor Assured standards as a minimum. Where we can reduce consumption of
livestock produce we will improve sustainable rearing practices i.e. a ‘Less but better’
quality approach.

As a minimum [PERCENTAGE xx%] of the meat purchased will be higher welfare2. This
amount will increase by [PERCENTAGE xx%] per year until 100% of the meat
purchased is higher welfare.

All meat must be stunned prior to slaughter

All milk will be certified organic.

We will monitor and reduce the amount of dairy, meat and processed meats that are
served, replacing this where necessary with pulses, beans and other sources of protein
that are not of animal origin and increasing the proportion of plant based foods,
particularly wholegrains, fruit and vegetables.3 We will do this by:
1. Promoting Feel Good Food days 4 as everyday practice
2. Serving 80g cooked weight portions of meat, poultry and oily fish portions5. Taking into
account 15-30 % shrinkage this equates to roughly 90 – 104 g uncooked weight.
3. If serving white fish then aim for maximum portion of 100g cooked white fish5 . Taking
into account 15- 30 % shrinkage this equates to roughly 115 – 130 g uncooked weight.
4. Alternatives to processed meat products will be offered in view of evidence linking
processed meat consumption and cancer. 5
5. Cheese will not exceed 30g5 per portion in cold or cooked meal options.
Fish
2

We will eliminate any fish on the menu which are on the Marine Conservation Society’s
red list and promote only fish that is on the Marine Conservation Society’s ‘fish to eat’ list.

Marine Stewardship Council chain of custody certification for the caterer is a minimum
requirement.
Organically certified or Freedom Food certified pork or poultry, or Free Range poultry, or equivalent.
References : Livewell Report (WWF 2011), Strategies for Reducing the Climate Impacts of UK Red Meat
and Dairy Consumption (WWF, 2009)
4 See attached supplement ‘Feel Good Food Days menu guidance’
5 UK Guidelines for Cancer Prevention (WCRF, 2007)
3

Our preference for tinned tuna will be pole and line caught or MSC certified . We will not
use tinned tuna where the tuna has been caught using purse seine nets with Fish
Aggregation Devices (FADS).

We will promote sustainable fish and seafood to customers and are signatories to
Sustainable Fish City.6
Fairtrade

Supporting London’s status as a Fairtrade City by [DATE xxx 20xx]** we will find out how
many ethically traded products7 we currently purchase. We will ensure that all our tea, coffee
and sugar is ethically traded by [DATE xxx 20xx]***, and will aim to serve more Fairtrade
certified products. Further, we pledge to increase our ethically traded offer as more products
and product categories become available, adding at least one more ethically traded product
per year, where available.
Eggs

We will ensure that all whole / liquid / dried eggs purchased are from, at minimum, a freerange production system and any products purchased containing egg state that the eggs are
from a free-range production system.
Bread

We will work with our suppliers to introduce baked goods, including bread, which do not
feature unnecessary ingredients and additives8, and which contain lower levels of salt in line
with Department of Health guidance9.
Water

We will stop offering purchased bottled water in our hospitality service as soon as possible
and at least by [DATE xxx 20xx]**.

We will use either tap water in jugs, or purified still and sparkling tap water, bottled, using reusable glass bottles in our hospitality services by [DATE xxx 20xx]***.

With immediate effect we will ensure tap water and reusable or recyclable drinking vessels
and water fountains are freely available to all our service users, visitors and staff, choosing
mains-fed systems instead of bottled water systems.
Nutrition
6
Reference : www.sustainweb.org/sustainablefishcity/
* Within 3 months of the date the policy was signed.
** A date within 6 months of the date the policy was signed.
7 Proof that it is ethically traded must be provided by an independent third party e.g. the Fair Trade
Foundation.
8 As defined by the Real Bread Campaign www.sustainweb.org/realbread/what_is_real_bread
9 Reference : www.nhs.uk/Livewell/Goodfood/Pages/salt.aspx

We will review the nutritional quality of our food and identify products and practices that can
be changed to improve its nutritional value. We will set out a plan to make these
improvements by [DATE xxx 20xx] and include specifications to support this in contracts,
and train catering staff to implement this commitment in food preparation. This will include:
reducing salt, fat and saturated fat levels, in line with Department of Health guidance;
removing hydrogenated fat and other unnecessary additives from all food and ingredients;
using healthier cooking oils and cooking methods; promoting dishes containing a high
proportion of wholegrain foods, fruit and vegetables; providing foods for children (where
applicable) that suit their nutritional needs; limiting the provision and promotion of snacks
that are high in fat, salt and/or sugar, and vigorously promoting healthier alternatives. We will
also monitor and reduce, each year, the number and proportion of less healthy10 options
provided.
Deliveries

By [DATE xxx 20xx]**we will have assessed how many food deliveries are made to the
[ORGANISATION NAME’S] catering department per week and, working with suppliers, aim
to reduce this number to an absolute minimum by [DATE xxx 20xx]***.
Engaging SMEs

We will seek to establish long term relationships with SMEs either directly or indirectly
through our contract caterers or suppliers of food. This will be measured annually.
Waste and Recycling

By [DATE xxx 20xx]** we will find out how much food we waste11 per week and continue to
regularly monitor the amount whilst seeking to reduce it. For example, we will audit main
sources of waste; implement more efficient ordering, storage and stock rotation; run
customer surveys to ascertain why certain recipes are unpopular; separate wet waste from
dry waste; re- audit our waste; and develop a plan for reducing waste to an absolute
minimum by [DATE xxx 20xx]***.

We will increase recycling of cardboard, paper, glass and metal waste, from sources
generated by the catering staff and restaurant users, by 5%, each year. We will work with
suppliers to reduce packaging and use reusable packaging wherever practicable.

We will ensure that dry waste (e.g. cardboard, paper, metal) is kept separate from wet waste
(e.g. food), and send any unavoidable food waste (e.g. potato peelings) for composting or
energy recovery. By working with suppliers, we will reduce the amount of waste from all
sources going to landfill to an absolute minimum by [DATE xxx 20xx]***.
Energy and Water
** Within 3 months of the date the policy was signed.
*** A date within 6 months of the date the policy was signed.
10 As defined by in-house dieticians and / or the Food Standards Agency’s Eatwell Plate
www.eatwell.gov.uk/healthydiet/eatwellplate
11 ‘Back door’, plate and kitchen waste

The catering team will monitor how much energy and water we use and seek to reduce our
energy and water usage by at least 10% by 2015. We will also develop a plan to reduce this
more, after this point.
Public Sector Collaboration

We will seek out partner public sector organisations in London, through Good Food on the
Public Plate, thereby aggregating purchasing power to increase the sustainability of the food
we buy.
To be reviewed and updated on an annual basis from [DATE xxx 20xx].
Signed by:
Head of Catering
________________________________
__ xx 2010
Head of Department
________________________________
__ xx 2010
Chair of Board / Chief Executive
________________________________
__ xx 2010
*** A date within 6 months of the date the policy was signed.
* Sustain understand that you may need further help achieving these sustainability goals. You might prefer
to deal with these issues yourself, or to hire an independent consultant. We also have a couple of
suggestions for how to find systematic support to help you improve your standards over time. You could:
1. Apply for a Food for Life Catering Mark. This is a healthy and sustainable food accreditation
scheme run by the Soil Association. The aim of the scheme is to help caterers work towards as well
as prove that health, environmental, ethical and animal welfare standards have been met. The Food
for Life Catering Mark is available to applicants across the UK. Caterers in all sectors can apply
including local authority and private school meal providers, hospitals, nurseries, sports stadia,
workplace canteens and restaurants. Food for Life Catering Mark logos are used on approved menus,
and on any related marketing materials. For more details see:
www.soilassociation.org/cateringmark/
2. Join the Sustainable Restaurant Association (SRA). The SRA has a team of consultants which can
provide restaurants and caterers with expert advice and support for sustainability issues such as food
sourcing and energy efficiency. Signatories receive access to the SRA supplier database, as well as
expert help on marketing, to help restaurants and caterers promote their sustainability. To measure
the success of your institution’s sustainability achievements you can then undertake the SRA’s Star
Rating process. This provides restaurants and caterers with a detailed assessment of their credentials
across the three areas of sourcing, environment and society. For more details please see:
www.thesra.org