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News: PHE has published its new marketing strategy

It sets out how it will motivate and support people to make and sustain changes that improve their health. It is focused on three life-stages: Starting Well; Living Well; and Ageing Well. There will be new areas of work including a focus on teenagers, improving mental health and cutting back on alcohol consumption. As part of developing the marketing strategy PHE consulted with 150 people across local government, the commercial sector and non-governmental organisations.
Sustain | Wednesday 1 October 2014

News: The Hospital Food Standards Panel

The panel, which was set up by the Department of Health in December 2013, has published its report and recommends five legally-binding food standards for food served and sold in hospitals in England. The five recommendations were selected from over 50 food quality standards. The panel has also recommended all hospitals develop a food and drink policy that aims to encourage healthy eating, high-quality food production, sustainability and excellent nutritional care. According to the Department of Health, hospitals that do not meet the standards will be in breach of their commissioning contract (usually held with a clinical commissioning group), and commissioners will therefore be able to take contractual action against them.
Sustain | Wednesday 1 October 2014

News: The alcohol industry has made a series of new pledges under the Public Health Responsibility Deal

The pledges include: producers calling time on super-strength products in large cans; retailers committing to the responsible display and promotion of alcohol in shops and supermarkets; and pubs and bars making sure they stock house wines below 12.5% ABV and promote lower-alcohol products to customers. Initial funding of £250,000 will be provided by industry for alcohol education programmes in schools. Grants will be available to give 10,000 people a qualification that will help enforce responsible drinking by 2016.
Sustain | Wednesday 1 October 2014

News: New Food and Drink Wales Industry Board

Robin Jones, managing director of The Village Bakery, is interim Chair of the new Food and Drink Wales Industry Board. The appointment follows the recent launch of Towards Sustainable Growth: An Action Plan for the Food and Drink Industry 2014 – 2020, which sets out how the Welsh Government will help Wales’s food and drink industry grow by 30 percent to £7 billion by 2020. The industry-led board will provide direction, encourage networking and share market development information with Wales’ food and drink businesses. The Welsh Government will support the board during its development stage, although it will soon become independent of government. Once established it will offer direct advice to Welsh Ministers.
Sustain | Wednesday 1 October 2014

News: Thirty new Marine Protected Areas have been designated in Scotland

Sites will protect a range of habitats and species including flameshell beds, feather stars, the common skate and ocean quahog, a large mollusc which can live for centuries. They will also protect sandeels – a small fish that many seabirds and marine mammals depend on for food – and black guillemot, a species of seabird found in Scotland’s seas that has striking black and white plumage and bright red feet. One of the sites – the North East Faroe Shetland Channel – is estimated to be the largest Marine Protected Area in the EU. Ministers have also announced they are considering 14 new areas to protect sea birds and a further four locations to protect basking shark and species of whale and dolphin.
Sustain | Wednesday 1 October 2014

News: Voluntary action for the food industry

A new Supporting Healthy Choices Voluntary Framework has been launched, which sets out specific voluntary action for the food industry, including retailers, manufacturers, caterers and the public sector to support healthier diets in Scotland. Subway, AG Barr, Compass and Aramark are some of the first companies to sign up. Produced in partnership with the Food Standards Agency in Scotland, Supporting Healthy Choices sets out 17 commitments for action across four priority areas: Putting children’s health first in food-related decisions; Rebalancing promotional choices to encourage healthier choices; Improving education and information available to customers; and Reformulating recipes to reduce levels of salt, sugar and fat.
Sustain | Wednesday 1 October 2014

News: Encourage children to stay on school premises at lunchtime

Beyond the School Gate is a Scottish Government project backed by The Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) and the Scottish Grocers’ Federation, and aims to encourage children to stay on school premises at lunchtime and eat a healthy meal, and for shopkeepers near schools to think about how they can offer more healthy choices. Research for the Beyond the School Gate project shows that more than half of secondary school pupils buy lunch outside school at least once a week.
Sustain | Wednesday 1 October 2014

News: Eight of the ten large retailers have made voluntary commitments to time limit forensic audits

The Groceries Code Adjudicator has announced that eight of the ten large retailers have made voluntary commitments to time limit forensic audits – a process in which accounts and records are analysed in detail for money that might be owed to the retailers, which can go back up to six years. The aim is to reduce costs in the supply chain and avoid suppliers being asked for sometimes significant sums of money several years after they have closed their accounts for any particular year.
Sustain | Wednesday 1 October 2014

News: 8.3 billion thin-gauge bags were used in 2013 by customers of UK supermarkets

Data published by WRAP shows that 8.3 billion thin-gauge (single-use) bags were used in 2013 by customers of UK supermarkets, an increase of 3.2 per cent compared with 2012 (8.1 billion). But despite the overall number of bags issued increasing between 2012 and 2013, the weight has fallen, which is due to a fall in the average weight of bags.
Sustain | Wednesday 1 October 2014

News: Report on the food production and supply dimensions of food security

The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee (EFRA) has published its report on the food production and supply dimensions of food security. EFRA Chair Anne McIntosh called for clearer lines of UK governmental responsibility, noting that at least three Departments are now responsible for food security: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra); Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS); and the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), and stated that to ensure coherent planning and action, overall strategy must be led by Defra, who must ensure a robust approach right across Whitehall. The Food Security report supports the idea of ‘sustainable intensification’ – producing more food with fewer resources – and calls on Defra to stem decline in UK self-sufficiency and deliver more resilience in the UK food system. It notes that for key cereal crops, for example wheat, yield levels have not increased for over 15 years. The report calls for: Supermarkets to shorten supply chains to reduce threats of disruption; UK farmers to extend seasonal production of fresh fruit and vegetables in coordination with the Agricultural and Horticultural Development Board, and local and central government; government to reduce dependence on imported soybean for animal feed, as increased demand for protein from emerging economies threatens current supply lines; and government to produce a detailed emissions reduction plan for the UK agricultural sector.
Sustain | Wednesday 1 October 2014