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Sustainable farming & food

Public sector food procurement initiative

• Tools and guidance
• Raising awareness
• Case studies
• Fair trade
• Health and nutrition
• School food
• Regions
• Selling to primary suppliers
• Selling to the public sector
• Environmental performance
• Sustainable farming

Public Sector Food Procurement Initiative (PSFPI)

Case studies

"Of course, we are not the fountain of all knowledge and would like those that are pioneering best practice to share their knowledge. So if you have produced guidance and tools such as manuals, model specifications, conditions of contract and check sheets - please send them in. Please also continue to send in case studies for us to disseminate via our website and the media, who are always looking for a good story to tell"

Food and Farming Minister Lord Whitty - PSFPI National Conference - 26 November 2003

• Advice note for producing case studies (PDF 20 KB)
• Best value through contract management
• Cost effective healthy meals
• Fair trade
• Improving nutrition
• Innovative framework agreements
• Locally sourced fresh food
• Locally sourced organic food
• Raising awareness
• Reducing environmental impacts
• Supplier development
• Suppliers - opening up opportunities
• Using Information Technology
• Other links
• Other sources

Best value through contract management

• Fresh Meat Countywide Staffordshire
• Enfield: Split contract lots equals better quality and more control Enfield, London
• Lambeth Council Review School Meal Provision Lambeth, London
• MoD central food supply
• MoD increases purchase of UK meat National/International
• NELL and DBC join forces North East
• Recycled equipment saves money and resources Her Majesty's Prison Service, England and Wales
• South Gloucestershire schools South West

Cost effective healthy meals

• Schools calls time on old style lunches, Gloucestershire
• Blackawton primary school South Devon, South West
• Icknield High School Luton, Bedfordshire
• 'Mornington High Five's Success' - Mornington Primary School Nuthall, Nottinghamshire
• Opting out bears fruit! Southdown Community Nursery and Infant School
• Solihull Hospital - Cook and chill operation providing healthy meals Solihull Hospital

Fair trade

• Defra introduces fair trade tea and coffee

Improving nutrition

• An apple a day - local independent initiative benefits school children South West
• Borough benefits from celebrity chef's input Greenwich
• Continuous improvement leads to national award Thomas Fairchild Community School, Hackney
• Catering enables school to practise what it teaches Mascalls School, Kent
• Healthier eating in school can influence quality of life beyond it London Nautical School
• Helping pupils make informed decisions about what they eat Woodford County High School for Girls, Essex
• It's easy when you know how! Fairchildes Primary School
• Local bakery supplies local schools - East Midlands
• National School Fruit Scheme West Midlands
• Positive Steps to a Healthier Future Bristol City Council
• Return to traditional school meals increases take-up Ashington Community High, Northumberland

Innovative framework agreements

• Aggregating supply of sustainably sourced food London

• NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency - supply and distribution of meat and poultry

Locally sourced fresh food

• Opening opportunities for local producers to supply food to Barnsley Primary Care Trust (PDF 34 KB)
• Cornish schools South West
• Feeding our Future Ashlyns Organic Farm and South East Schools
• Local farmer provides the "White Stuff" Acorn Dairy and Darlington Memorial Hospital
• Long term approach to sustainability NHS Cornwall
• Putting Northumberland Beef Back on the Menu Northumberland Schools Catering Service
• School benefits from new chef and new suppliers Leicestershire
• Teamwork could reduce hospital stays Teamwork could reduce hospital stays. London Food Link in partnership with the Soil Association and London NHS hospitals have also published an interim report on this project entitled: Getting more sustainable food into London's hospitals: Can it be done? And is it worth it? PDF (on sustainweb website)
• Boston school children benefit from locally sourced food East Midlands
• Nottingham City Hospital sources local milk East Midlands

Locally sourced organic food

• Landscove CE Primary School, near Totnes, Devon
• Parents Bag 'The Farmer's Choice' South East England
• St Peter’s Primary School East Bridgford, Nottingham. East Midlands

Raising awareness

• 5 Star Standards in School's Catering St. Aidans CofE High School, Harrogate Yorkshire
• A Trio of Essex Schools Raise Much More Than Awareness
  • Gt Easton School
  • Eastwood Junior School
  • Beckers Green Primary School
• Kids Taught Valuable Lessons Bristol City Council
• Pupils, parents and teachers learn together - Yorks and Humber
• South west public procurement group South West
• The Healthy Centre - Growing Centre Stibbington, East of England

Reducing environmental impacts

• Inn the Park The Royal Parks (London)
• Managing food wastage at NHS Eastbourne District General Hospital
• Waste recycled into a reusable resource

Supplier development

• 'An apple a day' Growing to Win, South West
• Cambridgeshire LEA sources local meat - supply chains strengthened with the help of EAFL - East Anglia
• Co-operative organic links across Europe
• 'Cultural Diversity Catered For' - Bradford Metropolitan District Council Yorkshire
• Football, Food and Fun - Nottingham Food Hub
• Herts LEA improves uptake of regional food - supply chains strengthened with the help of EAFL - Hertfordshire
• Improving Local Economic Impact - Northumberland County Council
• Meet the Buyer Event Bristol City Council
• Meet the Food Buyer Event North West
• Oxfordshire Food Group Compass Group UK & Ireland
• Prison Service - eggs supply (England and Wales)
• The Four Seasons of Brian Turner - Aramark Nationwide
• School and supplier working together for overall improvements Sopley Primary School, Dorset
• Suffolk LEA adds regional meat to the menu - supply chains strengthened with the help of EAFL - East Anglia

Suppliers - opening up opportunities

• Hampshire County Council’s contract for free range eggs
  Explains how the local authority established a contract to supply free range eggs into schools within Hampshire, including identifying trays taking 18 eggs (rather than the standard 60) to cater for small rural schools in the area.

• Collaboration earns a crust Maidenhead, Berkshire
• Fewer miles, fresher food South Moreton School, Didcot
• Developing Bradford ECS (Education Contract Services) Local Supply Network
• ECS encourage links with NFU and local producers Bradford Schools
• Local Government Support for Local Producers Kent
• Local meat: cheaper cuts means better choice East Midlands
• NHS National School Fruit Scheme London, Midlands and North West
• Organic producers co-op formed Eostre Organics Ltd and East Anglia Food Links
• Regional funding provides schools with local produce North Yorkshire County Council and Northern Dales Farmers Market Network (NDFM)
• Regional suppliers gain from contract lots - NHS purchasing and supply unit Nationwide

Using Information Technology

• Countryside Agency - Sustainable Food Procurement Network South West

Other sources

• School Food Trust’s case studies
  Case studies designed to show how schools have taken the food in schools standards and translated them into successful schemes and initiatives

• Progress in Practice - case studies (Sustainable Development Commission's website)
• English Farming and Food Partnership case studies
  Collaborative activity between farmers and the food chain at home and abroad
• Health Education Trust's "best in class"
  School case studies providing information on "how to do" sample menus, approaches and lessons learnt

Further information is available on our Help page about downloading or reading Adobe Acrobat PDF documents.

Page last modified: 23 March 2009
Page published: 2 November 2004

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