Prince of Wales visits hospital caterers

The Food for Life Catering Mark is an accreditation scheme that provides a step-by-step route to sustainable catering. Open to caterers in both the public and private sectors, the Mark has three tiers: bronze, silver and gold, with the gold standard requiring the caterer's menu to be 75% freshly prepared, 50% local and 30% organic. The scheme grew out of the Soil Association's work with school dinners, and the Catering Mark was originally intended for third party suppliers of food to schools. However, the scheme has now been expanded to include caterers from nurseries, hospitals and sports stadia. During a speech delivered at the Food for Life Partnership Awards Ceremony in December 2008, The Prince of Wales said: "Now we are beginning to make progress with healthy eating in schools, we need to tackle how we feed patients in our hospitals. As we are what we eat, and we know that the food we eat makes a difference to our health even when we are not ill, it would seem sensible that the food patients are given, helps rather than hinders, the process of recovery. So we need to encourage hospitals to maximise nutritional benefits by sourcing locally, seasonally and, where possible, organically." Explaining the importance of the Mark, Joanna Lewis, Policy Manager at the Soil Association said: "The Food for Life Catering Mark has been launched in response to public concern about the implications of 'cheap food' for health, animal welfare and the environment. It gives caterers across the public and private sectors a way of proving their commitment to the freshly prepared, ethically sourced food that customers are asking for. "When eating out, people want reassurance that their food, and their children's food, is fresh, honest and additive-free. They want to know that the issues they care about, from animal welfare to climate change, have been taken care of. The Soil Association's Food for Life Catering Mark helps leading caterers give their customers that reassurance."