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Listen to this siteThursday 12 July 2007
Ref: WA19/07HR
At its Nutrition conferences held recently, Food Standards Agency Wales recognised projects from across Wales in its 2007 Awards for Food Action Locally (AFAL) scheme. The scheme, launched in November 2003, aims to recognise individual or team contributions to local nutrition initiatives that have made a positive impact on the diet or eating habits in the communities they serve.
Among those projects recognised was the Riverside Community Food Cooperative, which aims to offer affordable and easily obtained fresh fruit and vegetables to local residents, increasing awareness of healthy eating and overcoming some of the barriers that prevent individuals and families from meeting the 'five a day' target.
Also identified was the 'Cardiac Cooking Companion' project. This Wrexham-based project created a cookbook to raise greater awareness of the principles of healthy eating, to provide affordable easy to prepare recipes suitable for cardiac patients and their families.
A third winner was The Nutrition and Health Team, Alive and Ticking Project from Llandarcy, Neath Port Talbot. This project created a pictorial cookbook for communities with low levels of literacy or for people for whom English is not their first language. The aim of this cookbook was to increase confidence among these groups in cooking healthy balanced meals while also promoting greater consumption of fruit and vegetables.
Ponthafren’s Physical Fun and Fine Food Project was also an award winner. This project aims to increase physical activity and cooking skills for people with mental health difficulties who live in an isolated community. This is done by starting an organic garden that is cared for by members, providing cooking classes and by developing, producing and marketing a recipe book with nutritional advice included.
The final winning project was Flintshire Breast-feeding Peer Support Programme, which aims to promote breastfeeding as the normal way to feed an infant, especially in the cultural groups where breastfeeding is not the norm, in order to reduce health inequalities for those babies and mothers. This is done by training volunteer mothers to become breastfeeding peer supports who work from a variety of premises including hospitals and the homes of breastfeeding mothers.
Each of these winning projects was awarded £2000 and a celebratory fruit bowl.
A further five projects were awarded runner up status in the award. These projects were presented with £1000 and a celebratory fruit bowl. They included the Rhyl Football Club Healthy Eating Scheme, which aims to encourage children to eat healthier diets and live more active lives. Children are encouraged to eat five pieces of fruit a day and do at least five sessions of 30 minutes activity each week. This is done by inviting the children into the club for a tour of the ground and dressing rooms and then telling the children how the players prepare for matches and the diet and exercise routines.
Kitchens of Cardiff’s main aims are to understand different cultures and communities that are present in Cardiff through research and to learn to cook healthy and traditional food from different cultures. A cultural cookbook has been created for young people who are moving into independent living to help them create exciting healthy and cheap meals (under £3 per portion).
The Women’s Institute Get Cooking Project involves WI members from across seven federations in Wales working in partnership with agencies and organisations who work with and support young people, to organise practical classes in basic food preparation and cooking for small groups of between 6-8 young people over a six week period.
The aim is to give young people the skills and knowledge to make informed decisions about their health.
A fourth runner up prize went to Get Up and Grow, a project run by Monmouthshire Youth Service, which aims to broaden the curriculum so that young people can engage in activities in a rural setting, connecting with their environment.
The project holds tutor groups weekly at the Get Up and Grow site, where students can work towards a City & Guilds qualification in gardening and horticulture in partnership with Coleg Gwent.
The project also helps local schools and youth clubs establish their own gardens.
Caerphilly County Borough Council’s Healthy Options Award Scheme also won a runners up prize for a project that uses encouragement and education to target premises serving food to the public. The project assists people in the catering industry to provide healthy foods from clean establishments in a healthy environment. To receive the award, premises must, in addition to providing healthy options on the menu, be in receipt of a bronze, silver or gold Welsh Food Hygiene Award to ensure that the food is prepared in a hygienic manner that exceeds basic legislative requirements.
Lindsey Kearton, Senior Policy Officer at the Welsh Consumer Council and a member of the judging panel, said, 'As always it's been a really difficult choice to select the winners, as the range and quality of all the projects is so high. Encouraging people to adopt healthier lifestyles is never easy - the commitment and enthusiasm behind the work being done in communities across Wales is highly commendable and invaluable in helping people to make more healthier food choices.'
The Agency is committed to continuing the Award for 2007/08 and further details will be announced in due course.
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