The standard is being developed to complement the existing Food for Life Catering Mark and will look at waste, energy and water use, allowing businesses to be recognised for exemplary practice in environmental sustainability.
Martin Sawyer, chief executive of Soil Association Certification said; “We’re close to reaching a remarkable 2 million Catering Mark meals served daily in the UK – wouldn’t it be great if those meals could also be provided with the justifiable claim they are using less energy, are more efficient and have less impact on our environment.
“I’m sure that many businesses will be interested in our pilot project, and in turn can see the benefit, both socially and economically, of this partnership.”
The Food for Life Catering Mark provides an endorsement that food providers are taking steps to improve the food they serve, using more fresh, sustainable ingredients which are free from harmful additives and better for animal welfare.
The standard aligns with all areas of DEFRA’s Balance Scorecard and will be launched as a pilot and hopes to help businesses to be recognised as ‘good’ or higher in the DEFRA rankings.
Dr Peter Bonfield, who originally developed the Balanced Scorecard, commented: “This partnership between Soil Association Certification and the Carbon Trust is an exciting opportunity to inspire businesses and caterers to improve their environmental performance and show a clear commitment to buying fresh, healthy, locally sourced, sustainable food and champion British producers via the Red Tractor scheme.
“The Food for Life Catering Mark is making it easy to verify a good or excellent score across all areas of the DEFRA balanced scorecard for public procurement, including food production, social and economic value, quality and now resource efficiency too.”
Darran Messem, managing director of certification at the Carbon Trust said; “Over 8 billion meals a year are served by caterers in the UK across 260,000 sites. Even small improvements in the environmental impact of each meal served can add up to a huge total. Fortunately in many cases large improvements are possible.
“For example Carbon Trust analysis suggests that many caterers could achieve reductions of around 30% in energy costs, equivalent to an annual saving of £250 million. Catering as a sector has the opportunity and the capability to drive significant positive change in the health and sustainability of our diets.”
This new scheme is the first and only to provide a ‘one stop shop’ verification scheme that aligns across all areas of DEFRA’s Balanced Scorecard. The standard will be launched as a pilot and there is a call for caterers to express their interest.