General Purchasing Policy
We aim to ensure that local producers and suppliers are always
encouraged and given the opportunity to tender for food
supplies. Careful consideration is also given to
environmental considerations (such as waste management, renewable
resources and food miles) as well as welfare concerns (such as
animal husbandry and care) within the final decision on all food
sourcing.
Food Purchasing Policy
Suffolk County Catering aims to maintain a clear and open policy
regarding all foodstuffs purchased which is applied equally to all
school and non school contract sites.
Our main objective is to safeguard all of our customers' interests
and respond to their concerns wherever possible.
We adopt a cautious and responsible approach, particularly to
issues of nutrition and health; equally we avoid imposing
unwarranted or unproven restrictions that would lead to less choice
and reduced enjoyment for all the users of our catering facilities,
or to our catering ‘offer’ being uncompetitive with that available
elsewhere in the market.
Genetically Modified Foods (GMFs)
There is not yet available unqualified scientific evidence that
food which has been genetically modified or products that contain
these items are harmful or dangerous. Nevertheless it is
accepted that many of our customers are still sceptical in these
matters and are concerned that there may be wider environmental
issues. Additionally, as we predominately serve children, we
err on the side of caution in the case of all novel foods.
Therefore all food products are checked with suppliers prior to
inclusion on our purchasing lists for the presence of GMFs and
should they contain any above the limits set in EC Legislation they
will not be knowingly purchased or used by Suffolk County
Catering. As an additional check on our suppliers our
purchasing organisation arranges random sample analyses from our
product list to check that our policy is diligently audited.
Mechanically Recovered Meat (MRM)
Whilst there is no evidence that products containing MRM are unsafe
in any way we understand that many of our customers feel this is an
unnatural process which may have hidden dangers. Since the
principal reason for using the MRM process is economic, it cannot
be argued that customer choice is restricted by excluding these
products whilst any doubts remain. We exclude all MRM
products and this exclusion therefore extends to all meat,
fish and poultry items that contain any food element produced by
mechanical means, including any processes similar to MRM, other
than the simple mechanisation of hand knife cutting or
filleting. Suffolk County Catering do not feel such products
reflect the high quality of food that we wish to serve.
Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE)
Traditionally limited amounts of beef and beef products were served
in schools due to cost constraints and menu style. It was
felt that consumption of beef should be a matter of customer
preference and during the height of the BSE crisis Suffolk County
Catering consulted schools and the vast majority requested that
beef should not be served. It therefore no longer made
commercial sense to retain beef items on school menus especially
since in small schools only a limited choice menu is
available. The Government maintains that British beef
supplies are now entirely safe. However, our current policy,
reviewed in 2004, remains that beef or beef products are not
part of our standard school menu range. All of our non school
sites and a number of secondary schools have requested that we
offer beef as part of a selection of dishes available and this is
provided. It is anticipated that this policy will remain
until consultation with our clients and customers reveals that beef
is fully accepted again for use in school meals.
Food Additives
Food additives broadly encompass food colours, flavours and
preservative substances, many of which are catalogued under the EEC
‘E’ number system. These are strictly controlled by
legislation and are considered to be safe under all normal usage
conditions. There is no conclusive proof that any of the
additives approved for use in this country or within the EEC have
any harmful effects on the general population and the permitted
quantities allowed have all been tested to be entirely safe under
all normal usage conditions.
Nevertheless, it is recognised that this may not take into account
the wide variations in individuals, their tolerances and possible
allergies. As we serve mainly children we feel it is right to
take a cautious approach and whilst we do not have an outright ban
on any additive we always strive to reduce their presence to the
minimum or, wherever commercially possible, use products free from
additives. In practice this means that our purchasing will
always favour a product that does not contain any additives over
one that does, or the product with the lowest amounts of additives,
all other aspects being equal. In the case of the following dyes
and preservatives (which have been claimed by some groups to have
some adverse affects on individuals with an established hyperactive
medical condition and some children who suffer from asthma) we will
take particular care in the application of the above policy.
Codes of Dyes and
Preservatives
| Code |
Colour or preservative |
| E102 |
Tartrazine |
| E104 |
Quinoline Yellow |
| E107 |
Yellow 2G |
| E110 |
Sunset Yellow |
| E120 |
Cochineal |
| E122 |
Carmoisine |
| E123 |
Amaranth |
| E124 |
Ponceau 4R |
| E127 |
Eryhosine |
| E128 |
Red 2G |
| E131 |
Patent Blue V |
| E132 |
Indigo Carmine |
| E133 |
Brilliant Blue FCF |
| E142 |
Green S |
| E151 |
Black PN |
| E154 |
Brown |
| E155 |
Brown HT |
| E180 |
Pigment Rubine |
| E210 to E219
inclusive |
Benzoic Acid & derivatives |
When selecting products our purchasing organisation will require
details of all additives used in the commodity from the potential
supplier and this information will be given weight alongside all
other considerations in the final selection of products to be
stocked.