"I have been actively involved in the development and trialling of our new education range, often in schools with no equipment to make hot provisions with food transported in, typically being produced at 9am and left in insulated boxes, so that by midday the nutritional value had degenerated drastically.

The trialling process is the most important, in terms of reaction from the end user and resolving any issues with the preparation and serving of the product. We learnt a lot from serving staff as well as the children, with 1500 meal occasions in all and high response rates from the children with 73% saying they would choose our meals. Staff agreed it was an improvement on usual dinners, easy to handle and a flexible menu that ensures less waste.

It was lovely seeing kids who would usually pick at their food actually eating it and having teachers comment, “you’d never see X going up for seconds.” With 26 mains and 10 vegetarian options hopefully it will encourage children to try new things as peer pressure is so important in a child’s development.

It was imperative the children enjoyed the product and following their feedback we’ve amended and reformulated products accordingly. The kids weren’t so keen on ‘bits’ in the food so we replaced the kidney beans with haricot beans - baked beans to you and me but still high in nutritional value - ensuring meals that are appetizing and appealing to the kids.

You always face challenges and can find yourself on a steep learning curve. In one school we went to serve up to find that the desserts hadn’t cooked, resulting in delayed service and less playtime for the children. The issues arose from a limited power supply but showed us that we needed to rethink how to stack the ovens to ensure even cook times. It was also difficult to keep 150 hungry kids in line with the increased uptake of school meals and the mid-day supervisors found it difficult to cope with increased numbers.

Garry Marshall said “It's always helpful to learn from your mistakes because then your mistakes seem worthwhile” and any of our future clients can be assured of a completely comprehensive package, with advice on how to best stack a two oven trolley or a possible increase in staffing and washing up facilities, complete with meal timings and phasing with equipment provided to reflect the choice of service."

Pam Jones,
a member of team apetito

As we carry out a full lifecycle analysis of food it becomes clear that the carbon cost of the energy expended in the agricultural production of the product that has the greatest impact. So whilst food miles, storage, and cooking have an impact for a great number of foods it is the cost of the tractor fuel, the energy to produce the fertiliser and application of crop protection products, amongst others that have the greatest impact.

There is not a great deal out there on the science of food life cycle analysis yet but a recent report by the Manchester Business School to DEFRA provides some fascinating information on the true environmental costs of food. www.defra.gov.uk/science/project_data/DocumentLibrary/EV02007/EV02007_4601_FRP.pdf

Scientific studies on food consumption have concluded that the carbon footprint of a product can be seen as the total amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases that are emitted over its full life cycle - basic foodstuffs such as root vegetables have a carbon footprint of which 50% is attributable to primary production. In contrast the embedded carbon present in energy intensive farmed fish and meat of any type are tremendously high – farmed salmon having up to 95% plus of its carbon cost in primary production.

It is clear there are lots of embedded energy costs in food. We can therefore implement a painless first step in the reduction of our impact on the environment by simply avoiding food waste - especially that of meat and fish. This is not just about using up what’s in the fridge but choosing food that has had less waste in its production, storage and transport.

At apetito we’ve implemented a number of measures to decrease the carbon cost of our products on the environment. We have introduced double-decker lorries for our longer and larger delivery routes - they carry the goods of nearly two conventional trucks but use merely 60% of the fuel. After undertaking a thorough review of our distribution routes we have introduced more local distribution points, reducing our mileage by 1,000,000 miles per year - significantly cutting our CO2 emissions and costs so we can be sure our range is produced sustainably.

So let’s ensure we educate ourselves and future generations to make informed choices on food avoiding waste throughout the food chain and utilise consumer power to encourage large companies to review their impact on the environment in its entirety rather than merely embracing the ever-popular ‘green-wash’.

Mark Lovett
Health & Safety Officer
a member of team apetito

The furore and the consequences of the ‘Oliver Effect’ have been well documented – but what are we left with? A situation where the take up of school meals in secondary schools has depleted by an average of 17% since the introduction of the 2006 Food-based Standards. The healthy choice simply isn’t the popular choice and manufacturers and school caterers have worked tirelessly over the past two years developing new menus which conform to strict nutritional guidelines and meet both budget and the taste criteria of young diners. Yet it is clear is there’s still some way to go for Local Authorities, bodies such as the School Foods Trust and the industry as a whole in convincing both pupils and their parents to eat well and take a holistic approach to diet and fitness in and out of school.

In achieving this, education is paramount. Only two years ago, a British Heart Foundation survey determined over a third of 8 to14 year olds were not aware chips are a derivative of potatoes. A shocking revelation but it’s very difficult to expect children to voluntarily eat five portions of fruit and veg a day, when many are not sure what they are! It’s about making healthy food an exciting part of everyday school life and communicating nutritious food in innovative ways. After all, healthy food fosters greater concentration in classrooms, demonstrating nutritious (rather than just low fat) meals contribute substantially to a child’s overall wellbeing.

Any drop in school meal numbers results in a corresponding increase in pupils eating packed lunches. Here, the onus falls to us parents. With no regulation or guidelines to adhere to, pupils are free to eat chocolate bars from packed lunches and throw away unwanted pieces of fruit. Are they getting the balance when they return home?

Ian Stone
Business Development Director
a member of team apetito

However what you can try to encourage a positive eating environment both at school and home.

National Guidelines have already removed the temptation for unhealthy snacking, but here's a helpful list of activities to engage and encourage children to eat healthily.

• Don't provide television or other visual distraction during lunchtimes.
• Start with a small serving, and let children get more if they are hungry.
• Be a role model. Children are more willing to eat a hot meal in a school hall setting if the teachers are seen to be doing the same.

You can also encourage an interest in food via the following

• Exploring the shapes, colours, and growth of foods in the classroom. For example, look into the many shapes that carrots can be found in food.
• Development of skills like pouring & stirring
• Learning simple hygiene, like washing hands before touching food or eating.
• Offering new foods alongside familiar ones can expand a child's palate.

We've all read sensationalist stories of children whose parents have refused school dinners in favour of "Fast Food Lunchboxes". It's never easy to convince a parent of the benefits of a prepared, hot meal, especially if the parent hasn't been schooled in the basic of a healthy diet themselves. However it is possible to also engage parents in creating a healthy eating environment.

• Provide parents with a recipe they can cook at home that matches a meal being served in school. apetito can assist you with this.
• Encourage eating as a family
• If the child is refusing food at home, encourage the parent to keep the child at the dinner table, or still within a family setting.
• If required, apetito can provide complete nutritional information about meals. apetito also provides material about the FoodSafe+ mark that apetito's frozen range offers.

It's never going to be easy encouraging children to eat healthily when their environment is saturated with media convincing them of the opposite, however as the role models, teachers and care-givers, you have a great influence in their development.

At apetito, we feel we have a great deal to offer those who are looking for an education catering solution

Over the next couple of months, we'll be posting regular articles about our experience in entering the Primary Education Catering market. We'll write about what we think we can offer, what lessons we've learnt, what advice we can give to the industry, and how we think apetito's wealth of nutrition expertise and proven track record in other catering sectors such as Healthcare and Community Meals can help out those who wish to provide the children in their care with a nutritionally balanced, additive-free menu. apetito strongly believes that a frozen solution is key to providing this, whilst reducing the overhead, food-safety issues, and unnecessary wastage associated with other catering methods such as Prime-Cook and Chilled.

We'll be opening our articles to comment, and we 100% welcome your opinion on what we're doing. At apetito, we don't hide behind our marketing slogans, and we're completely honest about what goes into our products. We're so proud of what we've created for the Education catering market, and we hope you will be too.

Of course, we’d like you to get in contact with us to discuss our range. We’ve run a fair few trials now, and we’re confident that our products will be enjoyed throughout the education sector. If you want to give us a call, please do on 01225 756071 to speak to Anita, or you can email our Education manager, David Griffiths at david.griffiths@apetito.co.uk

We have to admit, publishing our thoughts and opinions online in this manner is quite an experiment for apetito, and we’ll need your help to make it work, so in the next week, we'd like to thank our initial readers by running a small competition, so keep your eyes on the lookout!

Thanks
Matthew Curry
a member of team apetito.