Trust achieves Soil Association Catering Mark again!

Posted in News on 26th October, 2016

We are delighted to announce that the Soil Association has awarded us a Silver Catering Mark for the second year in a row in recognition of the quality of the produce we use to prepare meals for our inpatient units.

More and more people want to know where their food comes from and how it has been made. After working on meeting the award criteria over the last three years, and following a rigorous on-site inspection, we have been able to demonstrate that we prepare meals using fresh, seasonal, local ingredients, free from controversial e-numbers and additives, genetically modified products, trans fats, plus sourcing our meat from farms with high UK animal welfare standards (at least 5% of ingredients are organic). We are making healthy eating the easy option for our inpatients as we believe that providing them with high quality, sustainably sourced food is good for their mental and physical health.

Alex Lacey, Senior Facilities Lead, comments: "As a Trust, we are working towards ambitious sustainable development goals and achieving the Catering Mark is an important part of this, helping us to reduce our organisation's environmental impact and boosting the local economy at the same time by using locally sourced ingredients. It's a fantastic achievement for everyone involved, past and present, and demonstrates our commitment to improving the health of the people who use our services. Everybody in the catering chain has worked really hard to achieve the award and to improve every aspect of the food we provide, from the sourcing of the raw ingredients, to the information provided on menus and the presentation on the plate."

Martin Sawyer, Chief Executive of Soil Association Certification, says: "We’re delighted to see the Trust Catering Service achieving the Silver Catering Mark and gaining recognition for serving great fresh meals made with seasonal, local and organic ingredients. Serving menus to Silver Catering Mark Standards supports local businesses and reassures customers that all meals are free from GM ingredients. A huge congratulations to Devon Partnership NHS Trust on your achievement."

The 2015 team: (l-r) Lisa Jones, Dale Lovett, Alex Lacey, Winner Varghese, Stephen Browning, Renata Damanskiene, Stephen Bainbridge

The 2016 team: (l-r) Josef Koutny, Alex Lacey, Jane Gosling, Lisa Jones, Vanessa Stone, Nick Sant. (Not pictured: Chloe Jones)

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Trust achieves Soil Association Catering Mark again!

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