Latest News

New food growing programme launches in Barking and Dagenham

26 March 2012 | London Region

Teachers, pupils and local councillors in Barking and Dagenham have launched a new food growing programme across the region to help educate pupils about the growing process and where food comes from.

McCain Foods has helped to support the activity by providing curriculum based booklets, called 'Learn more with food galore', for teachers to use with pupils in class and also by supplying the participating schools with seeds and gardening equipment, including rakes, spades and watering cans.

Hotelympia trade show reports rise in visitor numbers

6 March 2012 | London Region

Hotelympia 2012, which ran from February 26 to March 1 at ExCeL in London, attracted more than 33,000 attendees, according to organisers. This represents a 4% rise on the figure for the previous event in 2010.
Toby Wand, group exhibition director at show organiser Fresh Montgomery, said preliminary figures showed footfall on the Monday and Tuesday (February 27-28) was "significantly higher" than in previous years.

These two days included appearances from a number of 'star' names.

AiP wins catering contract at Sutton Coldfield secondary school

23 February 2012 | London Region

Award-winning education catering providers Alliance in Partnership (AiP) has won a new contract with a Sutton Coldfield secondary school.

The company has been awarded a three-year contract with Bishop Walsh Catholic School, which caters for 1034 pupils aged 11-18.

Business manager Dawn Knott said: "We impressed with AiP's track record and company ethos. We're really looking forward to working with them and developing our food service offer throughout the school campus."

Pupils from Croydon schools to take part in food waste pilot scheme

30 January 2012 | London Region

Pupils from five Croydon schools are being given the chance to make even more of a positive impact on the environment.

Recycling in Croydon entered a new phase last year when the domestic food-waste collection service was introduced.

Food that had previously been sent to landfill, producing damaging methane gas as it degraded, is now collected from households and recycled into compost to be used in food production on farms.

The next stage will reward the pupils of five schools who have displayed a proactive attitude to recycling, with the chance to participate in a 12-w

Sodexo partners with Rocket Gardens to provide schools with grow-your-own kitchen gardens

2 December 2011 | London Region

Sodexo, a leading provider of onsite service solutions, has teamed up with Rocket Gardens to provide schools across the country with grow-your-own kitchen gardens.

As part of Rocket Gardens’ ‘Dig for the Future’ project, which encourages schools to get children growing organic vegetables and learning about the food they eat, Sodexo is providing schools in communities where it operates with seasonal fruit, vegetable and salad gardens.

The Sodexo Foundation, the company’s registered charity, is sponsoring the company’s partnership with Rocket Gardens as part of its STOP Hunger c

Elior UK introduces training workshops for schools

25 November 2011 | London Region

The Elior Chef School involves interactive workshops held under the instruction of its senior chef team and renowned industry chefs, including Anton Edelman, and combines practical experience with traditional learning.

Each month students cover different topics, from butchery and bread making to sauces and seafood, while working towards a Level 2 NVQ. Most of the sessions are held at Elior’s flagship development kitchen at Waterstone’s Piccadilly.

Many Elior suppliers are involved with the programme, supplying ingredients for the classes and hosting visits.

Islington and Richmond top London Borough league table for good food

21 November 2011 | London Region

The London Boroughs of Islington and Richmond-upon-Thames have been praised for “inspiring food leadership” for their work to promote healthy and sustainable food, in an audit of local authority food-related activities published today.

These two London boroughs are supporting community food growing, improving school food, helping residents reduce food waste, encouraging local food outlets to use healthier ingredients, and buying ethical food in schools and local authority canteens, including Fairtrade products, free range eggs and sustainable fish.

Eight more boroughs out of t

Enfield school benefits from new kitchen and dining space

2 November 2011 | London Region

St. Andrew’s School in Southgate, Enfield, is officially unveiling a new £255,000 kitchen and dining centre as part of a drive to provide healthy and nutritious hot meals to pupils.

The school originally had a servery receiving prepared meals from nearby West Grove Primary School. Now, a fully equipped kitchen and dining centre has been installed so that meals can be prepared fresh on site, with the aim of further developing healthy menus for children and increasing the take up of school meals.

Brent MP and Minister takes part in cooking sessions at local school

31 October 2011 | London Region

Brent MP and Minister for Children and Families, Sarah Teather, will be joining children at St Robert Southwell Catholic Primary school for the annual ‘make, take home and share’ cooking day – run by the Let’s Get Cooking club.

Every single child at the school will be cooking a healthy dish to take home and share with their family and friends on the day, as part of the school’s Let’s Get Cooking work to help children and families improve their diets by learning to cook.

Research for Let’s Get Cooking has shown that over half of club members (58%) said they were eating more hea

Children in Tower Hamlets to benefit from healthier school dinners

19 October 2011 | London Region

The London Borough of Tower Hamlets has achieved a bronze Food for Life Catering Mark from the Soil Association for all 90 of its primary, nursery and special schools.

Primary, nursery and special schools in Tower Hamlets are now serving meals that are over 75% freshly prepared, free from undesirable e-numbers, trans fats and additives like aspartame, tartrazine and MSG.