WARRINGTON Borough Council’s school meals team celebrated a national award from the Soil Association with an afternoon tea at the Town Hall and a visit from the Mayor.
The Bronze Food for Life Served Here award has been achieved by the team which serves 11,000 school meals a day for more than 70 schools in the town. Most of the meals are prepared from scratch daily including popular favourites like fruity chicken curry, spaghetti Bolognese and puddings such as sticky toffee pudding and butternut squash cake.
The team have involved the schools in the positive changes by running school trips to visit pumpkin farms in the autumn, new recipe taster sessions and cookery classes!
The award recognises caterers who serve local, fresh and honest food, which is free from controversial additives and better for animal welfare and includes a rigorous on-site inspection.
Cllr Jean Carter, executive board member for children’s services said: “The Food for Life award is an independent award scheme that means you can guarantee the food on your children’s plate is of a very high standard. I am delighted that the school meals service has been awarded the bronze standard mark which assures that Warrington’s primary school children are eating fresh, healthy and nutritional food.
“More than 75% of dishes on the menu are freshly prepared daily on site. The award is a result of the hard work and commitment from the council’s school meals service.
“If you have a child in reception, year 1 or year 2, your child is entitled to enjoy a school meal for free every day. There are many benefits in your child having a school meal, think about the time saved in the mornings not having to prepare lunch, it encourages children to try new foods and the meals are balanced and healthy.”
Lizzi Testani, from the Soil Association, said: “I’d like to personally congratulate the whole school meal team at Warrington Borough Council. They have worked really hard to achieve this award. To transform a service offering thousands of meals a day and now offer better food sourcing and more cooking from scratch is fantastic.”
