Good Food Training for London was set up in 2007 to provide free-of-charge food skills training to around 1,000 catering, procurement and other staff in schools, hospitals, prisons and care settings in London. The Mayor’s London Food Strategy recognised that to secure benefits to health, the environment and the London economy, catering staff needed the skills and knowledge to plan, prepare and serve healthy, seasonal and locally-produced menus. Based on practical experiences of what works and analysis of the barriers to change, this interim report develops recommendations for future training policy, next steps for the training project and practical activities for London and the wider public sector.

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The UK baby food market is worth an estimated £315 million annually, and many food products marketed for babies and young children carry claims about their nutritional value, such as “added vitamins”, “contains calcium” or “no added salt”. Prompted by the discovery that a leading brand of biscuits for babies and young children contained trans fats, the Children’s Food Campaign undertook a survey of foods marketed for babies and young children, analysing the nutritional information provided for 107 foods marketed for babies and young children available from UK supermarkets. The findings were concerning.

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This report details the outcome of the evaluation of phase two of the Good Food on the Public Plate project. This evaluation was run by F3: The local food consultants and found that without exception, participants welcomed the support the project provided. They also found that the project targets were very challenging but that there has undoubtedly been a positive, tangible contribution to increasing the level of sustainable consumption by target public sector organisations.

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For many years parents and a range of public health groups have warned that children are being heavily targeted with marketing for junk food on, for example, TV, the internet and on posters near schools. However, largely hidden from parents, many companies have been developing materials for schools that are cleverly designed to promote their products in schools. These ‘teaching packs’ are usually available to download from company websites, although some packs are sent directly to schools. They are supposed to provide schools and children with factual and impartial ways of understanding the world around them. But this research by the Children’s Food Campaign has found a series of highly concerning features with this material.

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A new briefing paper by Ben Reynolds of Sustain and Christine Haigh of Women’s Environmental Network (WEN), explains how social housing providers and their tenants can work together on their estates to grow food.

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This is a report of a visit to urban food growing projects in the United States by a group of four people from different organisations based in London. It was organised by Sustain's London Food Link officer, Ben Reynolds, and funded by the US Embassy, who had previously brought Will Allen to London to talk about his project, Growing Power, in the USA.

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This publication is a companion to Have you bottled it? How drinking tap water can help save you and the planet, that Sustain published in January 2007. It notes progress since then, here and globally, in encouraging the public and private sectors to use tap water instead of bottled water. It also looks at how the bottled water industry is responding to growing criticism of bottled water for being unnecessary, damaging to the environment, and expensive.

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The purpose of the report is to help current and future orchard projects, supporting practitioners and local communities to enhance, protect and celebrate orchards. It gives practical advice on setting up and running orchard projects; looks at creative ways to engage local communities and the media; and explores how to make orchards more financially viable through fundraising and selling orchard products. It draws upon many successful examples of Leader+ and similar projects and the advice and experience from orchard groups around the UK and elsewhere. This guide aims to inspire orchard enthusiasts everywhere, to take practical action to conserve our orchard heritage for the enjoyment of generations to come.

"The finished (report) is absolutely fantastic, a great balance of enough information to make it really useful but not so much as to make it cumbersome or hard to navigate. We've had really good feedback from people who have seen it so far"
Dawn Turner Programme Manager at Herefordshire Leader+

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A British Heart Foundation and Children's Food Campaign proposal for a statutory system to regulate non-broadcast junk food advertising and marketing to children

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Why the terms “local”, “seasonal” and “farmers’ market” should be defended from abuse by the food industry’

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This report is a call to action for everyone involved in catering for the London 2012 Olympic Games, to ensure that the food served before, during and after the Games is local, seasonal and organic as was promised in London’s bid.

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This new London Food Link report provides a snapshot of current practices and attitudes around sustainability in the restaurant, hotel and catering sectors in London, and initial work to support improvements. It features many examples of good practice showing how restaurants around the capital have incorporated sustainability including Leon, Acorn House and Konstam. The report also explores ways to stimulate a more sustainable food system, and the people and organisations best placed to make this come about. The report shows that many of London’s restaurants are missing out on a booming market for local and ethical food and those who are already using sustainable ingredients could do more to communicate this effectively to their customers.

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Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) businesses are vital for the cultural and economic vibrancy food in London, and Britain. Yet this ground-breaking report shows that, like the rest of the food sector, many businesses have not yet grasped the market opportunities presented by our growing appetite for sustainable food. The report recommends that Government provides both money and a higher profile for measures to stimulate the supply of sustainable food from Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) as well as the demand for sustainable food, including from schools, hospitals and other public sector caterers. As well as calling for Government action, Recipe for a Greener Curry gives well-deserved publicity to the current “green” entrepreneurs in the BAME food sector, and also aims to inspire others to build on their achievements, finding new and exciting ways of bringing culturally distinctive, delicious and sustainable food to our plates.

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Despite bottled water costing around 500 times as much as tap water, analysts predict we will buy more than 2 billion litres this year. Are you going to "bottle out" of your responsibility to the planet, and carry on drinking increasing quantities of bottled water?

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Starting with a brief definition of sustainable food, the report sets out why care homes should increase the proportion of sustainable food they serve, outlines the main obstacles to and opportunities for doing this, and provides sources of more information for those interested in taking this further.

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