In 2005-06, the National Association of Care Catering (NACC) and Sustain, the alliance for better food and farming, embarked on a project to explore the opportunities for sustainable food procurement in care catering.
With funding from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) a sustainable food procurement working group was set up and plans for a pilot project were made. While care catering also encompasses meals on wheels, young people in care and people with physical and mental health needs and learning difficulties, the pilot project focused on residential care homes for older people as a manageable starting point.
The paper, published in 2006, gives a brief explanation of what we mean by sustainable food and why there is a need for the project, outlines the key obstacles and opportunities and points readers to sources of more information and useful case studies.
Plans are being developed to refocus on the area of sustainable procurement in care catering in early 2009 as part of the new phase of Good Food on the Public Plate.
Get involved
The NACC / Sustain sustainable procurement working group is now working to develop a practical project to work with care homes across the country. If your care home / local authority would like to get involved, please contact Sustain on 020 7837 1228.
