Nibbles

Healthyliving award shortlisted in food industry awards

The healthyliving award team is thrilled to have reached the finals of the prestigious UK-wide IGD Food Industry Awards 2011. Consumer Focus Scotland, which manages and delivers the healthyliving award, has been shortlisted in the Nestlé Wellness Award category, along with big-name companies such as Mars Food UK and Sainsbury's.

The Nestlé Wellness Award is given to a company or organisation that has made a real impact in making healthier eating and drinking easier for consumers and thus improving public health in the UK.

The next stage of the competition is the final judging session in September, when we will present to a panel of experts. The results will be announced at a ceremony in London in October.

Wish us luck!

News bites

Older people eating well

By Sue Rawcliffe, National Development Officer, Community Food and Health Scotland

Community Food and Health (Scotland) has just published some case studies of lunch clubs in Scotland. A Bite and a Blether shows that lunch clubs are important in helping older people living at home in the community to eat well and are highly rated by their members.

They are all organised slightly differently and some get more support than others, but they all share the same two basic ingredients – a meal and a chance to sit down with others to have a chat. For some of the club members, meeting for lunch is the only time in the week when they get a freshly cooked meal and sit down with others to eat.

The food is important and many lunch clubs are now looking to offer healthy choices. Some operate from community cafes that already have the healthyliving award and others work to ensure that the food they offer is as healthy as possible.

The Sunlite Cafe in Stirling is planning to offer a healthy take on a fish tea to a lunch club that meets in their cafe. The fish will be dipped in egg, coated in homemade breadcrumbs and roasted in the oven using no fat whatsoever. Traditional chips will be replaced by homemade potato wedges seasoned with pepper (not salt) and also roasted in the oven.

In Alyth in Perth and Kinross, the Senior Citizen’s Lunch and Socialising Club, has limited cooking facilities so they concentrate on simple, healthy food that can be prepared relatively easily. This is usually a wholesome soup and filled rolls.

The case studies support a national study by CFHS and Consumer Focus Scotland into food services for older people living at home in Scotland. This found a lot of variation across the country as to what is on offer to older people who need support to eat well.

A report, Meals and Messages, based on the study makes recommendations for action by the Scottish Government, local authorities and local communities.

Both reports are available at www.communityfoodandhealth.org.uk

Table talk

Awards are flourishing for Eddie

Eddie McGinty with Claire Brown,
HLA Project Manager

Congratulations to Eddie McGinty and his catering team at Flourish House for winning the prestigious Healthier Scotland Award at the recent CIS Excellence Awards.

Flourish House is an independent charity that enables people with mental health difficulties to gain a sense of purpose and wellbeing.

The Healthier Scotland Award, sponsored by the healthyliving award in association with Healthier Scotland, recognises organisations which have made an outstanding contribution to supporting and promoting healthier eating.

Eddie and his team, who already hold the healthyliving award, were delighted to win and to see their hard work in promoting healthy choices recognised in this way.

For further details see www.cis-excellenceawards.com

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issue nineteen:
August 2011
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The healthyliving awardNHS Health Scotland - Scotland's health improvement agencyHealthier Scotland - Scottish GovernmentHealthier Scotland - Scottish Government