At Waltham Forest Catering we’re committed to the consistent provision of great tasting, healthy food and forward-thinking menus. We've continually improved and developed our service in line with healthy eating guidance food trends and other legislative changes.
Some examples include that we use free range and organic produce and our beef, lamb and chicken are all traceable back to the farm. Our pizza, bread, pastries, cakes and sauces are all homemade, using organic flour. Our menus always include, sustainably sourced fish, organic dairy products and fresh seasonal fruit.
One way to help improve health and sustainability is to have a better understanding of changing diet and global food supply patterns. Food production and trade are strongly linked with population health, and can also affect the local, regional and global environments through their impact on soil nutrients, water systems and greenhouse gas emissions.
With this in mind we read with great interest research findings from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine led by the University of Kent and Imperial College London published in Nature Food. The authors analysed food supply data for 171 countries from the last 50 years in the first multidimensional analysis of global food supply. Many countries around the world saw an increase in vegetable-based diets. In contrast, in many Western countries the supply of animal source foods and sugar has declined, particularly in high-income English-speaking countries such as the UK, US, Canada and Australia.
Dr Rosemary Green, Associate Professor in Sustainability, Nutrition and Health of the Centre on Climate Change and Planetary Health at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and study co-author explained the findings:
“Technology and globalisation are changing the foods available globally but until now there was little information on whether those changes were the same all around the world. Our research showed that animal source foods, sugar and vegetables have become a much more important part of food supply globally over the past five decades… This information will allow us to develop holistic approaches to improving population health and reducing the impact of our food choices on the planet.”
This data will provide information that can be used to underpin agricultural and trade policies for a sustainable and healthy future for our children which is positive news for the start of this year.