Newsletter September 2007

Issue 9

Editorial
HAVE YOU VISITED THE MEMBERS AREA OF THE WEBSITE YET? WWW.FHASCOT.ORG.UK

Welcome to the autumn edition of the newsletter. I am delighted to announce the date for our annual conference. Keep 5 February 2008 free in your diary. Exciting plans are afoot for a full day of workshops, poster presentations and tastings where members can showcase their work. Therell be an even bigger marketplace than last year. More information can be found on the website. The news section focuses on some recently launched resources, an exciting new food and farm campaign and an innovative approach to nutrition and health training. Theres also a range of

community news covering events and initiatives such as cookery skills development, competition in schools and various programmes encouraging the community to grow their own produce. On page 6, youll nd an interview with Ian Mitchell from Communities Scotland. Im sure youll nd his insights into community regeneration programmes and local food access very interesting. In the meantime, enjoy the newsletter.

Kate Barlow Food & Health Alliance Co-ordinator

Inside
News p2-3
- Final Word From EU on Nutritional and Health Claims - Dietitians Join Forces - Whats on Your Plate?

Feature Article
- An interview with Ian Mitchell

p6 p7-11

Community News

Resources
- Toddler Book Takes Off - Fruitful Participation

p4

Training
- Implementation of Nutritional Guidance for Early Years

p5

- Sausages, Sandwiches and Sharing Food - Highland Show Highlights Food Issues - Schools Cookery Challenge Brings Healthy Competition - Kids in the Kitchen - A Class with Educating Retailers - The New Health Farms - Welcome to The Wee Apple

Forthcoming Events & Membership Details

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News
Alliance News:
Final word from EU on nutritional and health claims
The European Union regulation on nutritional and health claims came into force on 1 July 2007.
There are a number of transitional periods for existing claims, however the regulation will apply throughout the UK and will be enforceable from 1 October 2007.
The regulation aims to harmonise community rules in order to protect consumers from false and misleading claims on labels or in advertisements. Nutrition claims such as lowfat and health claims such as calcium helps build strong bones will be controlled by this new regulation.

Further Information
For more information, visit www.food.gov.uk or phone the Food Standards Agency Scotland on 01224 285 100.

Dieticians join forces to improve patient resources

The British Dietetic Association (BDA) and Scottish Nutrition and Diet Resources Initiative (SNDRI) are considering a merger within the next three years.
The not-for-prot organisations believe that by teaming up they will have greater inuence and be able to deliver more effectively for dieticians and other health professionals who require quality nutrition and diet resources in the course of their work.
By joining forces with the SNDRI, we will become the recognised provider of nutrition and diet resources across the UK by providing a better service for dieticians and other health professionals, said Judith Catherwood, Honorary Chairman of the BDA. The proposed merger is supported by both the BDA Council and the Scottish Government which funds SNDRI.

Whats on your plate?

A new campaign is urging consumers to think about food and farming and to Back Scotland Buy Scottish
Few of the 60 million people living in the UK come into direct contact with farming or farmers. Yet several times a day, every day of the year, every year of our lives, we all enjoy the superb-quality food and drink produced in Scotland. From the milk on our morning bowl of cereal to the salad in our lunchtime sandwich to the lamb in our evening meal, the quality produce that reaches our dinner tables every day is provided by farmers. But Scotlands food producers deliver far more to the population than just healthy alternatives to junk food: they take care of the beautiful countryside, nurture the animals in their care, protect valuable ora and fauna and contribute to the ght against climate change. NFU Scotlands Whats on your Plate? campaign aims to highlight all these positive messages and get consumers thinking about their food choices, with the ultimate goal of them buying and eating Scottish food whenever possible. By opting to buy Scottish produce, consumers are supporting not only farmers, but also a variety of community groups and causes, including: family businesses and the local rural communities they provide for Scotlands unique countryside and tourism industry the ght against climate change and spiralling food miles the health of future generations of their own families high animal welfare standards the UKs supply of safe, quality food. Inroads have already been made thanks to celebrities like Jamie Oliver who have long been on the local food bandwagon. Consumers are really listening and have an increased awareness about buying fresh, local produce that is good for them (and their children) and the environment. The renewed popularity of farmers markets and other local food outlets also shows how mindsets are beginning to change but there is still a long way to go! The Whats on your Plate? campaign will only be effective if people from both inside and outside the rural industry get behind it, by both pledging their support and, just as importantly, demonstrating their belief in Scottish food. NFU Scotlands aim is to secure 25,000 pledges of support so that the Back Scotland Buy Scottish message of the campaign hits home.

Further Information
For more information, or to pledge your support for the campaign, visit www.whatsonyourplate.co.uk.

Resources

Toddler book takes off!

Ready Steady Toddler!, a new parenting guide for mums, dads and carers of young children aged 13 months to three years, has been launched by Health Scotland. The book, a sequel to Health Scotlands highly successful Ready, Steady, Baby!, encourages parents and carers to put themselves in their toddlers shoes and understand the challenges that face a small child as they leave the baby stage behind and set out on the road to becoming a person in their own right. It also describes practical strategies such as establishing ground rules, dealing with naughty behaviour and telling your child in a very positive way how pleased you are with everything that they accomplish. Ready, Steady Toddler! was developed by Health Scotland with the help of parents, carers and healthcare professionals working with children, and is available from Health Promotion Departments throughout Scotland.

Fruitful participation
Community Food and Health (Scotland) (CFHS) has launched Fruitful Participation, a new publication that aims to involve people in food and health work.
The resource provides a snapshot of how engaging with local people and involving them in decision making can lead to effective work around food and health. Based on the experiences of workers and volunteers who attended a CFHS course on Participatory Appraisal (PA), an approach to community engagement, Fruitful Participation describes how attendees applied PA to their work and discusses the challenges and benets of using such a technique. The book also contains case studies which highlight how PA techniques were successfully applied, including a Glasgow childrens garden where youngsters were encouraged to take more control of their garden; a youth club where young people chose, arranged and prepared healthier snacks for their snack bar; and an expanding village, where community members were canvassed on their preferred location for new food shops in their area. CFHS will soon publish ndings from a round-table discussion, by representatives from a number of local food projects, on work with zero- to ve-yearolds. A guide on using food to help vulnerable individuals live more independently will also be published in October.

Further Information
For more information, visit www.communityfoodandhealth. org.uk or phone Alice Baird on 0141 226 5261.

Training
A new approach to nutrition and health training: implementation of Nutritional Guidance for Early Years
Ensuring adequate nutrition in the early years has long been recognised as being vital for long-term good health. As young childrens food experiences can inuence the entire familys food choices, and ultimately their health, positive messages about food and eating need to be consistently reinforced. Recent research has highlighted that in order to achieve this, support staff and carers need specic guidance on how to provide good nutrition to children in the early years sector. The Scottish Executives Nutritional Guidance for Early Years (Food Choices for Children Aged 1-5 Years in Early Education and Childcare Settings) was designed to support this need, and implementing the guidance opened the door to an innovative way of providing health and nutrition training to carers of young children. This project is fundamentally different to previous initiatives. Previously, we would have devised the training, got trainers in, trained them and then sent them out to cascade it back to teachers, carers etc, explains Rachael Roberts, Learning and Development Advisor at Health Scotland, who pioneered the project.
In this case, rather than centrally managing the training, weve devolved it to those working in health and education authorities. Specically, weve contacted key people in health and nutrition, such as dietitians and childcare partnership managers, facilitated discussions between them, and their key partners, and established multiagency partnerships to plan, develop and deliver CPD opportunities to the pre-5 workforce. Health Scotland offered a range of materials and expertise to help create sustainable partnerships between health and education. The projects ultimate goal is to build partnerships that deliver consistent messages across both health and education. To date, 21 of the 32 local authorities in Scotland have delivered training or are in the process of delivering, and a further six are at the discussion stage. In Renfrewshire, the project is already in its second year. According to Rachael, the projects success is partly due to authorities being given the freedom to focus on their own particular areas of concern and to co-ordinate support in a specic area. For example, partnerships have chosen to look at providing healthy snacks for nurseries without all-day provision; in cases where nurseries have all-day provision, menu planning has been considered. The materials provided by Health Scotland can be adapted, amended and integrated into local resources and materials to support the training. The discussions among partnerships when planning training ensure that nutrition policies and messages are coherent and consistent across the sector. Another benet of this training method, says Rachael, is that new partnerships are selfsustaining and self-renewing. The partnerships who have delivered training keep it going by themselves without any involvement from us. In addition, they periodically update the training because of staff turnover. Rachael admits the challenges of implementing this new approach, building partnerships and identifying the right people to approach in order to get the project underway have been tough. However, the project has grown from strength to strength and has already made a difference to the way in which people working with young children are supported.

Interview with Ian Mitchell

Communities Scotlands Ian Mitchell explains why community regeneration programmes are vital and how local food access can be improved.
What does your role as Director of Community Regeneration at Communities Scotland involve? In short, ensuring there is a commitment to helping communities who suffer from concentrations of poverty. I am responsible for the management of funding programmes the Community Regeneration Fund and the Wider Role Programme to assist housing associations as a vital part of the social economy. My role also involves taking the evidence of what has and hasnt worked previously and spreading good practice across Scotland. What is your biggest challenge? To address deep-seated poverty; not just through our own efforts but by getting others to commit to the same, particularly those bodies with greatest inuence. I also share the concern of many that the traditional community many people grew up in is under threat. While it may be unrealistic to go back to the neighbourly days of closeknit, open-door communities, there is no reason why people should be isolated. I see it as a challenge to encourage and set conditions for various types of community to prosper. What is they key to improving the quality of life for people in Scotland? If I was pushed to highlight three key things, they would be improving health, lifelong learning and helping people get back into training and a job. And people should have access to quality information and advice that will help them to understand their options and articulate their needs. Why are community regeneration programmes important for peoples health and well-being? We are all aware of the gaps and health inequalities between communities the impact of smoking, drinking and lack of physical activity is well documented. Equally important but less well evidenced is the impact on health of lifes circumstances, for example housing, physical environment, education and employment status. We need evidence to prove this is so, and we are getting some interesting results from the Scottish Housing and Regeneration Project and local research such as Gowell across Glasgow, which conrms our view that peoples health and well-being can be directly linked to regeneration activity. How can local food access in communities be improved? One aspect that tends to be missing in disadvantaged areas is choice, for example choice in housing and food. But people will not pay over the odds or travel long distances for products, even when they are told they may be good for them. We want to look at choice and how the combined pooling power of public bodies can help to create more of it. Local food co-ops and subsidised fruit and food programmes can play a large part. There is potential through social enterprise to provide more help to small retailers to get quality foodstuffs locally and opportunities to encourage more food being produced locally.

Community News

Sausages, sandwiches and sharing food experiences

Recently, the Glachbeg Croft Centre, an educational centre on the Black Isle north of Inverness, held a unique sausage sandwich workshop enabling Scottish, Polish and Bangladeshi community members to work together.
According to the Centres Bob Bull, the event, which was held in collaboration with healthy eating initiative Food First, allowed the facilitators to gather information from the groups about their traditional diets and to ascertain if and how their eating habits had changed since they moved to Scotland. Using locally sourced ingredients, participants worked with a butcher to make sausages, and a baker to make bread and scones, then enjoyed the results of their efforts at a communal lunch. Participants compared foods traditionally eaten in the three represented nations, and discovered just how accessible different types of food are in the Inverness area. A number of those present indicated that it was difcult and often expensive to source some fruit and vegetables they would traditionally eat. However they were heartened to hear of the Highland and Islands Local Food Network, which brings together small producers to determine how to best meet the needs of the community. While the day was a fun way of sharing food experiences, the results of this activity will also form the basis of work that Food First will carry out with these communities later in the year.

Further Information
For more information, visit www.glachbeg.org.uk or phone Bob Bull on 01463 811 923.

Highland Show highlights food

Forth Valley Food Links, the Stirling Health & Well-Being Alliance and Clackmannanshire Community Food Development Project arranged for volunteers to visit this years Royal Highland Show. The trip to Edinburgh was organised as a reward to the volunteers from Falkirk, Stirling and Clackmannanshire in the hope of inspiring them, providing them with an opportunity to network, and also to raise awareness of wider food issues such as how the agricultural industry promotes its business to the public Attendees took back to their projects a number of valuable insights and experiences, including: helpful information with some great food tasting encouragement for more educational classes on food labelling and healthy eating, especially for children increased awareness of health issues and the importance of hygiene incentive to attend next years show and to apply for a stall to promote community involvement.

Community News

Schools cookery challenge brings healthy competition

Four teams of East Lothian school pupils met recently at Knox Academy to battle it out in the nal of the county wide Little and Large Cookery Competition, designed to promote links between primary and secondary schools while raising awareness of healthy eating. The nalists were from Wallyford Primary and Preston Lodge High School; Musselburgh Burgh Primary and Knox Academy; Dunbar Primary and Dunbar Grammar; and Pencaitland Primary and Ross High School. Although they had already proved their cooking prowess by seeing off nine other teams in the rst round, their ultimate challenge was to prepare a main meal and dessert from a bag of mixed ingredients within two and a half hours. Judges Provost Sheena Richardson, Craig Hunter, chef at The Rocks Restaurant in Dunbar, and Joyce Marlow, East Lothian Councils Catering Manager, had a tough job
coming to a decision but the Musselburgh Burgh Primary/ Knox Academy team (pictured) were declared the 2007 winners.

For more information, phone Marjorie Shepherd on 01620 827 236 or email mshepherd@eastlothian.gov.uk.

Kids in the kitchen

Staff from schools across West Lothian have completed a Nutrition Skills course. Eleven participants completed the theory element covering nutrition and food hygiene, group work and teaching skills, community development, practical cookery and participatory appraisal techniques, before undergoing a placement which involved delivering and evaluating a sixweek cooking skills course for parents and children. Jointly accredited by the Royal Environmental Health Institute of Scotland (REHIS), the course received funding from the West Lothian Education Department, the Get Cooking project and individual schools Cluster Challenge budget. Input was also received from the Food Initiatives Development Ofcer, Active Schools Co-ordinators and Oral Health Educators. The course meets the recommendations for the Hungry for Success challenge and also fulls elements of Health Schools Model as well as developing the four capacities of a Curriculum for Excellence, says West Lothian Councils Kay Johnson. According to Kay, the project aims to: train and support teachers to facilitate ongoing cooking classes and healthy eating workshops develop cooking classes specically for parents and children link with other initiatives such as food co-ops, the Oral Health Team and Active Schools Co-ordinators comply with Hungry for Success recommendations and adopt a whole school approach The aims are being achieved and the feedback from both the participants and students on the practical cooking courses is very positive, says Kay. The only real difculty has been tting the course into a busy teaching schedule, however participants are incredibly committed and realise the benets. Due to the initiatives success a second course is planned for September.

A class with the educating retailers

Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver is well known as the face of Sainsburys, but what many people may not appreciate is the work he does behind the scenes alongside the stores food advisers, or Jamies girlies as they are affectionately referred to as.
Sainsburys created a team of food advisers 15 years ago, and many of todays 50-strong ensemble are home economists. Three of Jamies girlies are based in Scotland Cathy Burns (covering Edinburgh), Maureen Farquhar (Aberdeen) and Alison Sampson (Glasgow) and their role is to drive home the healthy eating message by encouraging primary school children to try healthy foods and appreciate the importance of a balanced diet. Much of the advisers work takes place in schools in

the form of a talk or practical cooking session and focuses on making healthy eating fun. All three Scottish representatives have been involved in a variety of initiatives designed to improve health and knowledge of how food works: Cathy has educated Scouts groups and organised after-school clubs; Maureen has run sessions looking at the scientic aspect of food and how properties of food change; and Alison has been involved in setting up a healthy tuck shop. To date, the trios work has been well received by teachers, parents and the pupils themselves. The feedback has been positive and we get head teachers from one school contacting those at others to recommend us, says Alison. It is clear that the Scottish team is passionate about their work, and having private cooking

lessons with celebrity chefs is certainly a satisfying perk of the job. We all meet Jamie three or four times a year at his home or at his ofces, says Alison. Hes run informal cooking sessions to inspire us and give us ideas to take into the eld. He is genuinely interested in whats happening with schools and how he can help us in our work.

Further Information
For more information, email Cathy.Burns@sainsburys.co.uk, Maureen.Farquhar@sainsburys. co.uk or Alison.Sampson@sainsburys. co.uk

The new health farms

Health farms have long been known as places where people go to improve their health through diet and exercise and pay a considerable sum of money for the privilege. But this denition could soon change if organisations like the Federation of City Farms & Community Gardens (FCFCG) and Trellis (the Scottish Therapeutic Gardening Network) have anything to do with it. The FCFCG, a national organisation established 27 years ago, is designed to support, promote and represent community-run farms and gardens. Trellis has been offering the same services to therapeutic gardens in Scotland since 2006. Together, they have started organising tours of projects so that key decision

makers can see the many benets of having a farm or garden in the local community. While health improvement may not be an obvious role of community and therapeutic farms and gardens, Helen Pank, who has headed up the FCFCG in Scotland since 2005, says the benets are many. I work at a community garden and met a lady there who grew a courgette from seed; she usually ate chips, and had certainly never eaten something shed grown before. This often happens people start eating what they grow, and experimenting with new foods. Gardening is also good exercise, and working in community settings can also help improve mental health. Indeed, there is clear evidence to support the health benets of gardening. Dr William Birds

report for The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, Natural Fit, maintains that people exercising in natural outdoor environments get more out of it and can sustain the habit for longer than those who exercise in gyms or other indoor settings. Similarly, Dr Roger Ulrich found that postsurgical cardiac patients who enjoyed a view of a green scene from their hospital ward recovered faster than patients who had a concrete view of other hospital buildings. There are currently around 250 community and therapeutic gardening projects underway across Scotland. Among these is Gorgie City Farm in Edinburgh, which has been running for 25 years and has 12 staff and 150 regular volunteers each year, including people from minority ethnic communities,

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the unemployed, people with mental health problems and learning difculties, socially excluded young people and those recovering from addiction. Another project is the Bridgend Community Health Allotment, which began in 2006 and uses Edinburghs rst wholly organic allotments. Activities at the Health Allotment include gardening, healthy eating workshops and preparing healthy meals from the fresh ingredients.

This project is part-funded by the council and the NHS a great example of how local authorities and the NHS can work with grassroots projects to improve health, says Helen. Helen hopes the NHS will get even more involved by referring people whose health could benet from working in a community or therapeutic garden or farm, and also by providing all-important funding to support and sustain projects.

Perhaps such enterprises will indeed one day be seen as the new health farms.

Further Information
For more information, phone Helen Pank on 0131 623 7058 or email helen@farmgarden. org.uk.

Welcome to
Kids love to get their hands dirty, and thanks to the Glasgow Childrens Orchard, they can do just that while learning about nature at the same time.
Set up by John Hancox with help from Forward Scotland and the Scottish Community Foundation, the Orchard aims to bring children from various communities together to plant and nurture fruit trees. One of the Orchards great strengths is that it ties in nicely with the school calendar: it starts in autumn when the fruit is ripe, planting is done over the winter, and it concludes in spring when the blossoms come. Although it is suitable for schools across the board nurseries, primary schools and secondary schools all benet from it the Orchard

The Wee Apple

particularly acts as a great form of enterprise for older students. Because it involves fundraising via school fairs and healthy tuck shops, as well as event management and publicity, it provides young people with some essential life skills. In addition, a number of Scottish schools have used their involvement in the Orchard project as part of their Eco School award entry, and it is a great opportunity to link with the Curriculum for Excellence programme

Further Information
For more information, phone John Hancox on 0778 606 3918 or email john@weegarden. co.uk

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Forthcoming Events
20 SEPTEMBER
Food Hygiene Information Scheme Roadshow Castle Street, Edinburgh Further Roadshows will be held on the following dates: 4 October: St Nicholas Street, Aberdeen 5 October: High Street, Perth 24 October: Durie Street, Leven 25 October: Logies Lane, St Andrews For more information, visit www.food.gov.uk/scotland

13 & 14 OCTOBER

15 & 16 NOVEMBER

Scotlands Organic Food Festival Old Fruitmarket, Glasgow For more information, visit www.soilassociationscotland. org

Faculty of Public Health Scottish Affairs Committee Annual Public Health Conference Airth Castle hotel and spa resort, Falkirk For more information, phone 0131 623 2522

26 OCTOBER

Food, Diet and Health 2007: A Whistle Stop Tour Glasgow Royal Concert Hall For more information, visit www.gla.ac.uk/developmental/ cpd/NewCourse.html

28 SEPTEMBER

How to Join the Alliance:

Visit our new website at: www.fhascot.org.uk For any feedback on the newsletter, please email fha@health.scot.nhs.uk

Federation of City Farms and Community Gardens (FCFCG) National Networking Event Scottish Natural Heritage Ofces, Battleby near Perth For more information, visit www.farmgarden.org.uk

2-4 NOVEMBER

Food Standards Agency at BBC Good Food Show Scotland SECC, Glasgow For more information, visit www.glasgow. bbcgoodfoodshow.com

11 OCTOBER

Back in Touch: Community Food and Health Scotland (CFHS) Annual Networking Conference Murrayeld Stadium and Conference Centre, Edinburgh For more information, visit www.communityfoodandhealth. org.uk

15 NOVEMBER

Food, Health and Older People The Teacher Building, Glasgow For more information, visit www.gla.ac.uk/developmental/ cpd/NewCourse.html

Printed on recycled paper

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2596 9/2007