11:00 - 03 November 2004

Children at schools across Bristol will be tucking into organic and locally grown food as part of a scheme encouraging healthier lifestyles. Bristol City Council and the Soil Association - which promotes organic growing - have joined forces to launch the year-long Food for Life project in 20 primary and secondary schools.

The pilot scheme aims to put more unprocessed, fresh, seasonal local and organic foods into school meals.

As well as boosting the healthy content of meals and improving how they taste, the project will also aim to ensure that at least half the produce served comes from local suppliers.

Students will be able to learn about the benefits of eating healthy eco-friendly food.

The project will also enable young people to visit an organic farm and see how organic food is produced.

Part-funded by the Government Office for the South West, the scheme is supported by teachers, catering staff and food safety experts as well as Bristol's primary care trusts, environmental charity Envolve and food suppliers.

The pilot scheme builds on recent work by local authorities to improve the nutritional content of meals - meeting and often exceeding the Government's current guidelines.

Bristol's school meals service has recently brought in several changes such as increasing the amount of fruit and water which is served to students.

Peter Abraham, deputy leader of Bristol City Council with responsibility for education and lifelong learning, said: "This is a very exciting initiative to make our school meals even better and healthier than they already are.

"It looks at how we can use our considerable buying power to encourage fresh, organic and healthy produce to be grown and supplied locally.

"By launching this Food for Life project we will be leading the way nationally in the drive to improve the diet and health of children.

"We are extremely grateful for the support of the Soil Association, the Government Office and our other partners in enabling us to take this project forward."

Bath and North East Somerset Council (B &NES), which is the local authority for the Keynsham area, is also taking part in the project.

The Soil Association, which is based in Bristol, last week called for the Government to take urgent action to improve the quality of primary school food. It said typical meals contained too much fat, salt and sugar, despite meeting Government guidelines.

Kirsty Righton, of the Soil Association, said: "We are delighted to have the opportunity to work with Bristol and B &NES councils on such an important project.

"As well as all the benefits that these improved school meals will bring, we are keen to see a positive 'food culture' created in schools where lunchtime is an enjoyable experience for children, catering staff and the whole school community."

Schools in South Gloucestershire have adopted a policy of using locally- produced food in the meals it produces.

The council's school meals service has won national awards for the efforts it makes to use ingredients from local producers and the quality of the meals it supplies.

It has also increasingly adopted a GM-free policy across its catering services to prevent the use of GM ingredients in meals.

Source: Britol Evening Post, UK