Latest News

Study to look at impact of food, eating on social skills

6 March 2012

Researchers at the University of Leicester are to carry out a study into how food and eating habits can help to shape children’s social skills.

They will examine the social and behavioural aspects of dining and their potential impact on school attendance and attitudes to learning.

The study will centre on pupils at the Samworth Enterprise Academy, in Leicester, which has a focus on food and was designed by architects to have a restaurant at its heart.

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.

Plymouth City achieves Food for Life ‘gold’

29 February 2012

Plymouth City Council’s Education Catering Service achieves prestigious gold Food for Life Catering Mark for serving fresh and healthy meals.

This means that the Education Catering Service in Plymouth is only the second local authority caterer in England and one of just six school contract caterers in the whole country to achieve the Soil Association’s Gold Food for Life Catering Mark for serving fresh and healthy meals made with local and organic ingredients.

Academy school data unveiled

28 February 2012

A survey of the 1,102 academy schools in the UK has attempted to find out who operates the catering, which company offers the supply route and how many pupils are on the roll of each.

During January and February 1,066 of the academies responded – a 97% completion rate.

The data reveal that 76% of academies are secondary level and more than a third are concentrated in the South East, a figure that rises to 39% when London is included.

Northumberland pub steps in to save school lunch service

23 February 2012

The pupils of Wark First School in Wark, near Hexham in Northumberland, are enjoying a menu of freshly-prepared lunches thanks to a link-up with nearby Battlesteads Pub, Hotel and Restaurant.

Following funding cut backs from the Local Education Authority (LEA), the school had to make the decision to close its kitchen and make its part-time cook redundant so head teacher Amanda Lewis needed to find an alternative solution.

The team at multi-award winning Battlesteads came to the rescue and they're now providing meals for the 30 children at the school every day.

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."

LACA national summit addresses key concerns

20 February 2012

Around 100 delegates met at the Chesford Grange Hotel, Kenilworth on Friday, February 17th for the first LACA National Seminar of 2012.

Welcomed by national chair Lynda Mitchell, the assembled delegates were keen to hear from speakers on some of the most pressing issues the association is facing this year, with thoughts and feedback following the event to lead into the National Training and Exhibition event in July.

Hampshire freezes school meals prices for fourth year

3 February 2012 | South West Region

The Hampshire County Council’s Catering Service has announced that the price of its school meals is to be kept the same for the fourth consecutive year.

Councillor Roy Perry, Hampshire County Council's deputy leader and executive lead member for children's services, approved the maintaining of the price of school meals at its current level of £2 per meal.

The council says that around 7 million meals are likely to be served in Hampshire's primary schools by the end of the school year based on the current take-up.

Equal pay justice – UNISON and Bury Council come to historic agreement

3 February 2012

UNISON, the UK’s largest union, and Bury Council have reached an agreement to settle nearly one thousand low paid women council workers’ equal pay claims.

The women, who do vital jobs such as caring, cleaning, and cooking, were paid less than their male colleagues, for doing work of equivalent value.

Bury was the first council that UNISON targeted with mass litigation for equal pay in 2007 – after it was the last council in Greater Manchester to take the issue seriously.

The union estimates that the council has wasted more than £1 million of public money by fighting the

The Guild of Food Writer’s CookIt! Competition returns

1 February 2012

The Guild of Food Writers has announced details of its annual cookery competition - CookIt! - and is now searching for young cooks across the country to take part.

First prize is a week's family holiday in Cornwall and the winning child's school will win £100 worth of book vouchers.

With the theme 'Going for Gold', young cooks are asked to create a winning two course meal - main meal and pudding - for a favourite sports person. Entrants, aged from 10 to 14 on Friday 31 August 2012, are encouraged to get involved.