THE SOIL Association has launched a new scheme to help caterers meet the standards in its Food for Life Catering Mark.
The Food for Life Catering Mark provides assurance on health, animal welfare and environmental impact of food. Over 600,000 Catering Mark meals are currently served every day in schools, hospitals, universities, nurseries and staff restaurants in the UK.
The likes of Harrison Catering, Caterlink, ISS Education and Sodexo are all involved in the scheme. To meet the standards, they require suppliers who can deliver products that can satisfy a variety of accreditations required at the bronze, silver and gold levels of the Catering Mark. These include products which are, for instance, Red Tractor or Freedom Food, or MSC or organic.
To help caterers select suppliers the Soil Association has therefore launched the Catering Mark Supplier Scheme. To join, suppliers will have to pay £995 a year but, according to the Soil Association, this will open their businesses to some of the UKs top caterers and a market worth over £200m.
