Glasgow City Council gains Bronze Award for early years
Glasgow City Council has, for the third consecutive year, been awarded the Food for Life Served Here Bronze award for its efforts in serving up fresh, local and sustainable school meals to pupils across its 141 primary schools and 112 early year sites. That's 37,000 daily meals that are good for pupil health, the local economy and the environment.
It's the first time the award includes Glasgow City Council nurseries and early years centres, highlighting its commitment to putting good food on the plate. The hard work and dedication of all involved has once again been recognised by the widely respected and independently assessed scheme led by Soil Association Scotland and funded by Scottish Government.
The Bronze level award certifies that Glasgow's school meals are free from trans fats, sweeteners and additives, and use free range eggs, higher welfare meat and ingredients from sustainable and ethical sources.
At least 75% of dishes served up to pupils across the city are freshly prepared from unprocessed and seasonal ingredients from local suppliers like McLays. Glasgow also provides pupils with the opportunity to participate in cooking and food growing activities.
The Food for Life Scotland programme aims to make good food the easy choice for everyone, emphasising the power of public food to have a positive impact on health, the environment and the local economy. The programme provides a framework for local authorities across the country to get more good food onto school plates.
Glasgow's well-established partnership with Soil Association Scotland - through the Food for Life initiative - was recently recognised at the 2022 Scottish School Food Awards with the Healthy Living Innovation Award, which celebrated their achievements in encouraging pupils to eat more healthily.
Councillor Christina Cannon, City Convener for Education and Early Years, said: "We are absolutely thrilled to have our Food for Life Served Here Award renewed for yet another year and, in particular, to add our early years establishments to our certified sites!
"Here in Glasgow, we are proud to serve up 37,000 award winning, nutritious school meals each day across the city and our dedicated staff are extremely passionate about providing our pupils with a healthy, fresh, and locally sourced lunch that is beneficial to both the pupil and the planet.
"We remain committed to ensuring that our pupils - of all ages - are provided with the highest quality lunch that fuels them for learning.
"Congratulations to everyone involved."
Sarah Duley, Head of Food, Soil Association Scotland, said: "Congratulations to Glasgow City Council for renewing their Food for Life Served Here Bronze Award for another year. It is fantastic to see Glasgow extend their Food for Life Served Here Bronze award to early years sites.
"This is a huge achievement and shows that staff are dedicated to providing pupils with a hot, nutritious meal that's healthy, freshly prepared and sustainably produced. We are delighted to recognise Glasgow City Council for continuing to put more good food on school plates, building on the goals of the Glasgow City Food Plan and for supporting Scotland's food businesses."
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