Let them eat Hake! Only sustainable fish for top school caterer
Nearly 40,000 pupils will be offered sustainable fish as part of their school lunch thanks to the Sustainable Fish Cities pledge signed by education caterer Edwards and Ward.
As part of the UK-wide campaign to transform our impact on depleting fish stocks, Edwards and Ward has committed to use only demonstrably sustainable fish across its whole business, which serves over 7.5 million meals per year.
Edwards and Ward are the latest organisation to sign up to Sustainable Fish Cities [1]; joining some of the largest, most prestigious and progressive names in foodservice including Brakes, the National Trust, Eurostar, NHS Wales and Google.
The pledge will help to support fisheries and farms that are working sustainably and with lower impact on the marine environment, such as the hake on Edward and Ward’s menus – for which the stocks have been certified as in a healthy state and well managed [2]. Serving demonstrably sustainable fish is the now part of the Headteachers Checklist for the new School Food Standards [3], and part of the Food for Life Catering Mark standards [4].
Ruth Westcott, co-ordinator of Sustainable Fish Cities said:
‘This is a great commitment from Edwards and Ward. We are aiming to see only verifiably sustainable fish on menus in the UK by creating a network of Sustainable Fish Cities. There are currently fifteen UK towns and cities involved in the campaign, and Edwards and Wards’ pledge will be a big boost to London’s ambitions.
Mike Ward, Joint Managing Director of Edwards and Ward said:
‘This commitment to sustainable fish is a natural step for us – it’s nonsense that a school caterer should consider anything else. We were taking action towards sustainable fish as part of the Food for Life Catering Mark – this pledge will develop that commitment, and mean that we will now raise awareness about overfishing and choosing sustainable fish with our pupils and parents’.
Ends
For more information about Sustainable Fish Cities and how to get involved, contact:
Ruth Westcott
Sustain
0203 5596 777
ruth@sustainweb.org
Mike Ward
Edwards and Ward
01892 601340
info@edwardsandward.co.uk
Notes to editors
[1] Sustainable Fish City is a campaign organised by an alliance of not-for-profit organisations, sustainable catering advisors and marine conservation specialists. Members of the Sustainable Fish City working group include Marine Conservation Society (MCS), the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), Pisces Responsible Fish Restaurants and Seafood Choices (a project of SeaWeb). Sustainable Fish City is coordinated by Sustain: The alliance for better food and farming, see: www.sustainablefishcity.net
[2] Hake is considered ‘Fish to Eat’ according to the Marine Conservation Society’s (MCS’s) ‘FishOnline’ tool. The Marine Conservation Society is the UK’s leading charity for the protection of our seas, shores and wildlife. See their website at: http://www.mcsuk.org.
[3] The Headteachers’ checklist was produced as part of the ‘School Food Standards’; mandatory health and nutritional standards applied to schools in England. A checklist of specific actions to improve food culture and increase take-up of school dinners was released in 2013: http://www.schoolfoodplan.com/checklist/.
[4] The Food For Life Catering Mark is an independent endorsement that food providers are taking steps to improve the food they serve by using fresh ingredients which are free from trans fats, harmful additives and GM, and better for animal welfare. The scheme is run by the Soil Association http://www.sacert.org/catering
Published Wednesday 9 September 2015
Sustainable Fish: A campaign to protect precious marine environments and fishing livelihoods, and call for fish to be bought from sustainable sources. We want to show what can be done if people and organisations make a concerted effort to change their buying habits.
