Plymouth children wanted for CATERed food panel

CATERed, Plymouth’s school meal provider has just launched a competition to recruit a number of nine and 10-year-old  pupils, who have a real interest in food and healthy eating from schools across Plymouth, to form Ed’s Citywide Children’s Food Panel.

One of the main goals of CATERed is that children and young people are at the heart of everything they do and in order to make sure that they have say in what they eat, they will be invited to join a specialist panel to give their opinions on every aspect of the school menu.

Managing Director Brad Pearce said: “We know that recipe and menu development is absolutely fundamental to our business and our Board of Head teachers have been looking at how we can more actively involve our customers to ensure that our CATERed menus are firstly as attractive and child-friendly as they can be and, also, that the food choices on offer are as popular and enticing as they possibly can be.”

Pupils from Year 4 and 5, across the 67 primary Plymouth primary schools have all been asked to explain in 50 words why they are interested in school food, healthy eating and why they would like to represent their school on the children’s food panel.

The successful pupils will be brought together three times each academic year as a “board of directors” to meet suppliers, try new foods and ingredients, experience some theatre-style cooking and help inform and plan the new menus.

Brad continued: We believe that this is a fantastic opportunity for pupils to meet with suppliers, understand the sourcing, buying and menu planning process for the CATERed school food business and have a real stake in the food they receive and the running of the business”.

All CATERed schools are also adamant that menus should offer healthier options whilst also fulfilling the requirement to provide food and drink that meets the Government’s School Food Standards and support pupils in learning about food sourcing, provenance and a balanced diet.

To find out more about CATERed and see the latest menu choices visit www.catered.org.uk