The Soil Association ‘Food For Life’ Catering Mark is based on the principles that food should be fresh, local, healthy, ethically sourced and environmentally friendly. The Gold Catering Mark is the scheme’s premier award and uses a points system to mark candidates against three criteria:
- Ethical and environmentally friendly food
- Making healthy eating easy
- Championing local producers
Robin Givens, sales director at Elior UK, said: “Elior is committed to providing healthy, tasty meals that have been sourced responsibly, ethically and – where possible – locally. We’ve undertaken a number of measures to promote these aims at Barts, including reducing the level of salt in our recipes, removing table salt and making fruit cheaper than main desserts.
“We also put out table talkers and posters to let customers know what local produce we use and we leave out customer comment cards to help us improve. Being a responsible company is something Elior take very seriously and we’re absolutely thrilled to have achieved the ‘Food For Life’ Gold Catering Mark with Barts Health NHS Trust.”
Kenny Hanlon, associate director of estates and facilities for the Royal London Hospital, said: “The health and wellbeing of our patients, visitors and employees is always our first priority. It’s important we set a good example of healthy eating and environmental responsibility too. Achieving the Bronze Catering Mark was a big step for us and we’re thrilled to have now achieved Gold, with the help of our partner Elior UK.”
Catering Mark standards are set and overseen by the independent ‘Food For Life’ Catering Mark Standards Committee. The committee is made up of a range of independent experts, who are appointed by open recruitment on the basis of their individual experience and knowledge.