18/06/14: New school food standards ‘a great step for sustainable nutrition’

The Marine Stewardship Council has welcomed the new School Food Standards, which launched this week. Adele Fash, from the MSC says, “This is a great step for sustainable nutrition in schools. The standards recommend sourcing fish from verifiably sustainable sources, advocating MSC certified sustainable fish as an ideal way to achieve this.  By ensuring the School Food Standards are in line with Government Buying Standards, the Standards Panel will help to ensure the sustainability of the seafood in school lunches for a generation of pupils.”

The new School Food Standards will be compulsory for state-run schools in England; voluntary for existing academies; and required as part of funding agreements for any new academies set up since spring 2014.

The Standards recommend:
-    At least one portion of oily fish every three weeks
-    Visiting www.msc.org for advice on buying responsibly sourced fish
-    Buying foods in line with Government Buying Standards which recommend choosing fish from verifiably sustainable sources and ideally Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certified: www.msc.org

As the leading wild–capture, third party accredited seafood certification scheme, MSC certified sustainable seafood provides an easy way for schools to source fish that reaches the highest benchmarks of sustainability.

There are currently nine suppliers that are MSC certified. They are:
•    3663
•    Birds Eye Foodservice
•    Brakes (wholesale and M &  J Seafoods)
•    Crown Foods
•    Direct Seafoods
•    Feldt’s  Seafood
•    Green Gourmet
•    Ross (Young’s Seafood Ltd)
•    Seafish UK Ltd
•    The UK Foodhall LTD

There are also eight contract caterers offering MSC certification
•    Alliance in Partnership
•    Caterlink
•    Chartwells (Compass)
•    Eden Foodservice
•    ISS Education
•    GS Plus
•    Taylor Shaw
•    Sodexo

MSC certified schools (including nearly 4,000 primary schools in England) are enrolled in the MSC’s Fish and Kids project, giving teachers and caterers access to curriculum-linked lesson plans, assemblies and materials to promote their certified sustainable fish options via the Fish and Kids website.