Dudley Food For Health Award
| Description | Recognises, supports and rewards caterers who provide healthy eating choices prepared and served in a hygienic and non-smoking environment |
|---|---|
| Setting | Catering establishments, especially schools, colleges, nurseries and care homes |
| Populationting | Customers of catering establishments |
| Intervention summary | Food for Health Advisors visit catering establishments on two occasions to assess for healthy eating choices standards. Support is provided including recommendations on how to include fruit and vegetables in recipes, how to reduce fat, salt and sugar in cooking, and training is offered where necessary. |
| Outcome Summary | Not known |
| Startup Cost | Unknown |
| Running Cost | £30 000 per annum |
| Funding | Core funded by Dudley Primary Care Trust through the Local Development Plan. |
| Started | 1992 |
| Ended | Ongoing |
| Location | Dudley, England |
| Contact |
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Background
The Dudley Food For Health Award is a partnership accreditation process between Dudley Public Health Department and Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council (MBC) that recognises, supports and rewards caterers who provide healthy eating choices prepared and served in a hygienic and non-smoking environment.
The Borough of Dudley is comprised of several towns and districts including Dudley, Stourbridge, Halesowen, Kingswinford and Sedgley. Dudley is a large metropolitan borough (38 square miles) and lies on the westerly edge of the West Midlands conurbation. Unemployment, deprivation and the socio-economic profile closely match the national average but this masks localised deprivation at neighbourhood levels, some of which are amongst the most deprived in the country.
What is the problem you are trying to solve?
The overall aim of the award is to increase the availability of healthy food options for people eating meals and snacks outside their home and actively supporting them to make healthier choices.
What local organisations are involved?
The award is a partnership between Dudley Primary Care Trust’s Public Health Department and Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council’s Environmental Health Department.
How many people are running this project and who are they?
The team of Environmental Health Inspectors and a Health Promotion Officer at Dudley MBC and three Food For Health Advisors from the Dudley Public Health Department.
What local population are you targeting?
Customers of catering establishments within the Dudley Borough, in particular, schools, colleges, nurseries, and care homes
How many people are you targeting?
Data is not collected regarding the number of people attending catering establishments as customers in Dudley. However, a target of 49 catering establishments receiving the Dudley Food for Health Award served as baseline data in 2005-6 in the Local Area Agreement.
Interventions
What interventions are you using to address the problem?
Caterers receive an award for meeting specific criteria relating to healthy menu choices, food safety compliance and sustainability levels. An Environmental Health Inspector assesses a catering establishment for food safety and food sustainability standards. If minimum standards are met, the catering establishment are then referred to the Dudley Public Health Department. Food for Health Advisors visit the referred premises on two occasions to assess for healthy eating choices standards. Recommendations for improving healthy menu choices are agreed on the initial visit then a period of four to eight weeks is provided for improvements and changes. The follow up visit is then used to finalise the assessment. Support provided to caterers include menu planning, recommendations on how to include fruit and vegetables in recipes, recommendations on how to reduce fat, salt and sugar in cooking, provision of a guide on how to promote healthy choices and training is offered where necessary.
Is the project design based on evidence? If so, please state reference.
Yes, please see references 1 2 .
Outcome
What outcomes or planned outcomes are you measuring?
The main outcomes measured are the number of establishments awarded and the number of establishments achieving a higher award (for example, from bronze to silver or silver to gold) between initial inspection and follow-up visit.
Do you have any outcomes or results yet? If so, what are they?
2005-6 data indicates that 36 establishments received the Dudley Food for Health Award. Of these, 16 (43%) received Bronze level, 18 (35%) received Silver level and 13 (22%) received Gold level.
Is your project relevant to a government target or guideline?
No
Feedback
What obstacles did you have to overcome to set up this project?
Not known
What have you learned about the project so far?
The capacity of the Environmental Health Team to deliver on this initiative is hindered by funding and statutory obligations; this has an impact on the number of establishments achieving the award.
There is a need to widely publicise the initiative to both caterers and the public in order for it to become a more reputable award, recognised across the borough.
What would you do differently?
A shared database for both partners of the Dudley Food for Health Award scheme
References:
- Holdsworth M, Haslam C, Raymond NT. Does the heartbeat award scheme change employees’ attitudes and knowledge? Appetite. 2000;35:179-188
- Warm DL, Rushmere AE, Margetts BM, Kerridge L. Speller VM. The Heartbeat Award Scheme: An evaluation of catering practices. Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics. 1997;10:171-179