Well what a busy past few weeks it has been! The sector has certainly been busy, you only have to be on the main social media platforms and you can’t help but notice how much has been going on, which is great as it further raises the profile of public food and its pivotal role in terms of keeping the nation well and of course supporting other key public services such as the NHS and Care Services.
We started with the NACC launching their National Meals on Wheels week (31st October – 4th November). It was an honour to be invited to attend the launch event at the House of Lords where I met so many amazing people who ensure that this vital service continues to deliver a hot meal to the most vulnerable at home each day. Not only does the meal play such a key part in enabling people to continue to live at home, but also the daily contact with the delivery teams across the country who carry out an instant welfare check and of course a welcome smile and hello. It is not only the elderly who receive this service and the launch event was a fantastic opportunity to raise the profile of what is actually a vital tool in terms of public health and well being.
Then LACA launched its National School Meals Week 7th – 11th November. There were some amazing posts on Social Media with fantastic quality meals being served up around five different themed days. With COP27 LACA focused everything on green sustainability issues and managed to get enormous traction with school caterers across the land. I was completely blown away with all the imaginative and creative recipes, dressing up, dining room decorations and of course the absolute delight of the children who were interacting with the amazing food. Local Roast Dinner day was my favourite and I am still salivating when I look at the wonderful pictures of the superbly cooked and presented dishes. What a wonderful thing school meals are and we must never forget what a key role they play in keeping children well nourished and hydrated to enable them to learn and focus in the classroom as well as in some cases, that meal possibly being the only thing that child may eat that day. I think our school meal caterers are super hero’s!
I was honoured to be able to represent all Public Sector Caterers at the recent FEA (Food Service Equipment Association) Conference in the midlands last week. I was able to talk about the work of the Public Sector Catering Alliance and explained how we in the public sector need the help of equipment manufacturers and suppliers as we face more and more issues such as staff shortages, sustainability targets and the increases in provision costs. I put it to the FEA members that we need them to innovate with equipment that can help reduce our costs of operation, help alleviate the pressures of less and less staff and reduce waste when cooking and serving food. I suggested our operations could be living laboratories for them to work with us to drive better economies of our operations and the FEA pledged their support to us and will now start to work with us to make Public Sector Catering the most efficient and sustainable that it can be. We are utilising public money and so we should be the trial blazers in terms of our operations. It is great to have the FEA on board and their enthusiasm and commitment was extremely encouraging. Looks like the PSCA is driving change!
Matt White MBE FIH
Chair of The Public Sector Catering Alliance
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