Requirements for sustainable food at meetings and events - notes to caterers

Catering for meetings and conferences is one area in which organisations can help to reduce their impact on the environment and improve the health and well-being of staff. These guidelines give simple ideas for how we would like to provide healthier options that have a lower impact on the environment and support sustainable local economies.

A one-page Model Catering Policy, for communicating sustainable food guidelines simply to caterers can be downloaded here. It can also be used to commission sustainable food for meetings.
 download 50Kb pdf

We are very likely to order a high proportion (even 100%) of vegetarian and vegan food – especially if a caterer cannot provide organic meat or meat raised to high standards of animal welfare. Please tell us about the different vegetarian options you can provide – we would like some options that do not rely on animal products such as cheese and eggs. There are lots of tasty alternatives to meat, such as patés or dips made from beans, lentils, and nuts. Where meat, poultry, milk and eggs are used, these should be British and produced to high standards of animal welfare, e.g. organic, RSPCA Freedom Foods, or free-range (or at very least Red Tractor logo farm assured). Please also provide a non-dairy alternative such as soya milk.

All tea, coffee and sugar should be Fairtrade certified (and dried fruit, nuts, juice and chocolate, if these are used). This ensures that farmers in poor countries get a fair price for their produce. For catering suppliers of Fairtrade products see: www.fairtrade.org.uk/suppliers_caterers.htm.

Where bread is used it should be mainly wholemeal, not mainly white. We would be pleased to discuss using delicious and nutritious options such as sourdough.
We would like it if you could serve other starchy foods such as salads made with rice, couscous or pasta.

If fish is used, we do not want to use fish species that are in danger of extinction, see: www.fishonline.org/advice/avoid. If fish is used, it should be certified as sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC – http://www.msc.org/). If this is not possible, we would prefer not to serve any fish.

We would like you to serve a selection of seasonal fresh fruit (for seasonality information, see: http://www.eattheseasons.co.uk/) – preferably locally grown and preferably organic. If imported fruit is used, then we would like it to be Fairtrade certified. We will not require any soft drinks other than fruit juice and tap water. For health reasons, we would prefer to serve fruit instead of cakes, biscuits or salty snacks.

If serving a buffet, please consider offering a variety of fresh, seasonal, local vegetables. For example bowls of different salads, vegetable crudités and a range of vegetables in sandwiches (e.g. roasted veg or grated carrot). Try to avoid using salad as a garnish as it probably won’t be eaten.

We do not accept bottled water unless it is tap water in refillable bottles. Please provide jugs of tap water with glasses, to avoid unnecessary packaging. Also, we ask you to cut back on waste by using reusable crockery, cutlery and glassware. If you must use disposables please use biodegradable / compostable or recycled items.