This Friday, 11 May, at Walsall Academy school in Birmingham, TV presenter and farmer, Adam Henson, is launching his national project to enable every school child across the UK to know where the food on their plate is from.
The project, titled ‘Please Sir! Feed Me Truth’ aims to connect and engage the supply chains behind all school food with what’s on the kid’s plate. It is hoped it will create a generational shift in how the nation engages with and values food provenance.
Henson explains: “The appreciation and understanding of food starts with children simply knowing how and where the ingredients on their plate were produced, but they don’t. They have no idea. Every school dinner has a story to tell - a journey. It leaves a footprint. We need every child to explore it and be inspired and learn from it.”
Adam hopes every school in the country will commit to making their food supply chain transparent, using technology to deliver into school dining rooms the journey of every plate of food.
The project is being operated by Happerley, a not for profit organisation founded by farmers and gaining support from across the food industry to validate the provenance of food ingredients and empower consumers to know where their food is from.
An educational resource is being funded by Midcounties Cooperative that will provide curriculum supports, arrange field trips and school visits. On 11th, Co-operative Childcare, the UK’s sixth largest nursery provider, will be announcing its commitment for all their nurseries to join this project.
Happerley founder, farmer Matthew Rymer, explains: ““The food industry remains one of the least transparent and we are not told the origins of most of the ingredients in our food. Children are particularly susceptible to buying into brands and clever marketing because they do not know or understand better.
"By working through the food chain to deliver the full story of the ingredients that make their school dinners, our hope is we can create a seismic change in understanding for the future that impacts positively on their health and nutrition, the environment and sustainable food production.”
Please call Patrick Evans on 01242 222848 for further information
