Huntingdonshire District Council has been awarded regional Food Champion status by the Food Standards Agency. The award recognises the partnership work carried out by the Councils Environmental and Community Health Services Division with Cambridgeshire Community Services, Cambridgeshire ACRE (Action with Communities in Rural England) local schools and community groups as part of the Hunts for Good Food programme. The award recognises the important role the project has played in the community by improving diet and nutrition and acknowledges the good practice the partners have demonstrated and the sustainability of the project.
The Hunts for Good Food programme has been running for four years and helps initiate, fund, resource, and sustain a whole variety of school and community based growing and cooking projects highlighting the soil to plate concept and the importance of a balanced diet and eating at least 5 fruit and vegetables a day. The projects are managed by Veronica Martin, a health improvement officer, jointly funded by the council and Cambridgeshire Community Services. Local schools involved include Winhills, Bushmede, Priory Park, Thongsley Field, Spring Common, Ramsey Abbey and Ramsey Junior as well as children’s centres and nursery groups. Local community groups have also been involved with grow, cook and eat schemes and allotment regeneration projects so that in addition to promoting healthy eating the project also helps to develop food based skills of teaching staff and community volunteers.
David Statham, Director Consumer Protection and Enforcement Group at the FSA, said: “As a Food Champion Huntingdonshire District Council and its partners have demonstrated good practice and shown commitment to making the local community a better place to live. We hope that this award will inspire other local authorities and encourage the sharing of good practice.”
Dr Sue Lammin, Head of Environmental and Community Health Services, said: “We are delighted to receive this award and I would like to thank all our partners in this project, particularly the Cambridgeshire Community Services for their input and helping to make the Hunts for Good Food project such a success.”
All local authorities in England and Wales were eligible to take part in the award but the assessment panel was particularly impressed with the Hunts for Good Food project and voted Huntingdonshire’s District Council as the East of England Regional champion.
All regional champions will all be invited to a parliamentary reception at the House of Commons in June when one overall winner will be chosen as the National Food champion.