Sustainable Public Food and Nottingham

The Food Programme

BBC

Arts, Food

4.4 • 943 Ratings

🗓️ 1 November 2010

⏱️ 29 minutes

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Summary

In these hard economic times does a Private Members Bill introducing new standards for the food sourced by public bodies stand a chance of becoming law? Simon Parkes visits Nottinghamshire, where some hospital meals and all school dinners are procured this way, to look at what such a change might mean in practice.

The Nottingham City Hospital has been sourcing sustainably for 7 years, buying its meat and vegetables from local farmers. Food is fresher, higher quality, and no more expensive, and now over half the money the hospital spends on food goes into the local economy, benefitting local suppliers like dairy wholesalers Transfresh, and butchers Owen Taylor.

Also 7 years ago Nottinghamshire County Council began its process of sourcing its school meals food sustainably, and has now achieved Silver Standard under the Soil Association Food for Life Partnership scheme. Donna Baines, School Food Development Manager, met Simon in Maloney's butchers, which now supplies all their meat, with Alison Maloney and Jeanette Orrey, school meals campaigner, to discuss the impact of these changes on the food, their finances, and the threats posed by the current spending review. The service is currently being "market tested" with a view to potential privisation. Conservative Councillor Andy Stewart explains what that might mean.

In the studio to discuss the Bill are Labour MP Joan Walley (Stoke on Trent North) who tabled the Private Members Bill; Tony Cooke Government Relations Director of catering service provider Sodexo; and Kath Dalmeny, Policy Director of Sustain, which runs the Good Food for Our Money campaign.

Producer: Rebecca Moore.

Transcript

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0:57.0	In Nottinghamshire, they are now serving the Nottinghamshire sausage.
1:02.6	You know, how proud can you be of that if you come from Nottinghamshire?
1:07.0	Whereas hours were frozen, we used to have to drain the fact of it. None of my staff would eat. I wouldn't eat it either.
1:16.6	But now parents can be reassured they know what their children are eating.
1:22.4	That's Jeanette Ory, one of our most high-profile dinner
1:25.0	ladies and someone who's done much to rehabilitate a school meal service that previously relied
1:30.3	on cheap convenience food. She's just one of a growing number of people
1:34.8	concerned about the public provision of food across Britain, believing it should
1:38.8	be organized more locally and much more sustainably, and she's not alone. In June the Labour MP for Stoke-on-Trent North
1:46.6	Joan Wally, table to private members bill the aim of which is to ensure that all food
	...

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