Sustainable food procurement initiative
Teamwork could reduce hospital stays
Case Study: London Food Link / Soil Association
Region: London
Organisation: London Food Link in partnership with the Soil Association and London NHS hospitals.
Description
This project has been awarded a Rural Enterprise Scheme1 (RES) grant by Defra, which will run over the financial years 2004/5 and 2005/6 under the measure 'Marketing of Quality Agricultural Products'.
London Food Link is also grateful to the King's Fund for providing a grant to help with this project.
The project aims to increase the amount of local and/or organic food served in four London NHS hospitals to 10% of their routine catering provision, and through this firstly to help promote health by providing fresher food for patients, staff and visitors and secondly to support farm and food businesses in the South East and London.
Much catering in the public sector is for vulnerable groups who deserve the highest quality food. However, food may not be as fresh and nutritious as it could be, as length of time between farm and plate can be many days. The vitamin C content of fruits and vegetables, for example, starts to decline immediately after harvest.
Benefits
- Improving the freshness of food supplied to hospital wards and canteens is likely to affect the nutritional health of hospital staff as well as the people to whom they offer care.
- The NHS purchases over 300 million meals a year across the UK spending a huge £500 million on food a year. If a greater share of this was spent on local supplies of food, local economies could have a significant boost, hopefully increasing farm incomes from the 2002 U.K. average of £11,000.
- Benefits for the small producers: Mike and Avril Gray of Watts Farm, Orpington said "It is possible for us to supply locally grown produce into London and be competitive on price, as we have no middle men and we harvest our products fresh which means our storage costs are low."
- The project hopes to connect hospitals with local and/or organic food suppliers in order to establish: A workable local/organic supply chain, which can deliver a proportion of hospital food, needs. An administrative system which helps hospitals to buy local food where appropriate.
- Improve sustainability of local food producers and therefore improve the environment via reduced food miles and increased sustainability of local/organic food producers.
Assistance provided during implementation
Support will be offered to help hospitals set supply tenders which improve chances of local and/or organic suppliers and to develop menus which favour seasonal and/or organic food. Specialist supply chain and technical training events will help food suppliers in London and the South East and hospital catering staff optimise conditions for getting local and/or organic food into wards and staff canteens. The Soil Association is providing telephone support for enquiries from interested suppliers wishing to take part in the Hospital Food Project.
The project could generate wide ranging benefits for producers, consumers and the environment. The project has a very close fit with Defra policy objectives with respect to sustainable food and farming and public procurement. The applicant states that this project would not proceed without Defra support.
Future developments
As well as fostering better opportunities for supplying local food, the Hospital Food Project will also commission research on local food infrastructure and distribution needs in London, and on the viability of a new local food centre. The project will also measure the health and economic effects of increasing local and/or organic food supply to participating hospitals. Additionally, a network will be established to replicate the projects successes in other areas of public sector catering such as schools.
Further information
For further information, contact Fiona Cairncross, Hospital Food Project Co-ordinator at London Food Link.
Fiona Cairncross
Hospital Food Project Co-ordinator
London Food Link
c/o Sustain: the alliance for better food and farming
94 White Lion Street
London, N1 9PF
Tel: 020 7837 1228
Fax: 020 7837 1141
Email: fiona@sustainweb.org
Web: www.londonfoodlink.org
The Soil Association is the UK's leading certifier and promoter of organic farming and food and as a charity also works to make local organic food available to all within a thriving local food culture. For information about current projects or to find out more about sourcing local and organic food, contact the Soil Association's Local Food Links Department on 0117 914 2424 or visit their local food website at: www.localfoodworks.org.
The Soil Association Local Food Links team can be contacted at:
Bristol House
40-56 Victoria Street
Bristol, BS1 6BY
Tel: 0117 914 2424
Fax: 0117 925 2504
Email: adaniel@soilassociation.org
Web: www.localfoodworks.org
Web: www.soilassociation.org
Page published: 11 February 2004