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The Soil Association’s Food for Life Served Here programme has been working with school caterers across Derbyshire to help them provide healthy school meals and a food education that has a positive impact on both the pupils and the wider community. 

Derbyshire County Council serves more than 50,000 school meals to children across the county every day. The school meals are locally sourced and use sustainable ingredients, including organic beef, MSC certified fish and free-range eggs. 

Hady Primary School in Chesterfield was one of the first schools to host a tasting session when parents were invited to enjoy samples of tomato quiche, carrot cake and warm homemade rolls. 

Councillor Carol Hart, cabinet member for health and communities at Derbyshire County Council, said: “Our school catering service provides more than 50,000 meals across the county every day as part of its commitment to ensuring Derbyshire children have a happy, healthy start in life which also helps them to learn well.

“Our teams work hard to provide children with well-balanced, nutritious food and, with the help of the Food for Life programme, pupils are also learning about where their food comes from.”

Food for Life aims to reconnect children to the food they eat, by following the journey from ‘field to plate’. Pupils in Food for Life schools are twice as likely to eat five portions for fruit and vegetables per day, according to Jones et al, 2015. 

S. White from Blackwell Primary School, added: "Through FFL, children have had the chance to grow their own produce and this has been used by our school catering supervisor in our school meals.  

“The children have built a positive working relationship with our caterer and had the chance to enjoy tasting their home-grown fruits, vegetables and herbs."