We at Nottingham CityCouncil cotinue to support initiatives for healthy eating, we are taking a number of actions in order that we can achieve the recommendations for the school meal.

1) Having a flour dish in one half of the meal is a tried and trusted method of achievibg the correct calorie balance.

2) Many of our suppliers are working to achieve a lower fat and salt content in their foods.  Bernard Matthew have already introduced a turkey drummer with 25% less fat and 25% less salt.  Green Gourmet have lowered the salt and fat content in almost all their products.  These are items such as cheese superstars and fishy octopus.

3) We have reduced the number of processed foods on the menu.  These foods have higher fat and salt content tham homemade produce.

4) RHM are working on pudding mixes with less salt.  They are being tried and tested at one of our kitchens.  The mixes are already low sugar and lower fat than traditional pudding mixes.

5) By adding drinking milk on the menu we are constantly increasing the calcium content.

6) We do not add salt to the cooking of vegetables and potatoes and we do not leave salt pots out so that children can add more salt to their meal.

7) By introducing light fries, which are 33% less fat when cooked, we have brought the fat content of chips down to within the guidelines. We only allow our primary schools to have chips on the menu once per week.

8) In April 2004 we reintroduced fresh meats to our menus.

9) Fresh fruit is available daily and a fruit based pudding is available daily.