Sustainable food wins gold

The sustainable way in which food is grown, sourced and prepared for students and staff at Aberystwyth University has earned the University a gold award at the 2009/10 Wales the True Taste Food & Drink Awards which were held at Abergavenny's historic Market Hall on Thursday 19 November.

Over the past four years Kevan Downing, Head of Hospitality, and Huw McConochie, Farms Manager, have been working together to introduce a healthy eating menu at the University's restaurants comprising of meat and vegetables grown on the University’s own farms.

Their vision for quality local produce means that up to 90% of the University’s food is now sourced from its own farms and other local suppliers such as Rachel’s Organic and Birchgrove Eggs. This has also led to a significant reduction in food miles with University-produced meat clocking up just 36 miles from farm gate to plate.

More recently Kevan and his team have been growing a wide selection of fruit and vegetables in University greenhouses with the help student volunteers. These include strawberries, tomatoes, fresh herbs, peppers and chillies.

At the other end of the food chain the installation of a ‘Rocket’ composter means that any waste is treated on site with minimum ecological impact.

In addition to the Sustainable Development Award the University also won silver for its entries in the Red Meat (small producer) category and the Local Sourcing Initiative category. At the 2008 awards the University was awarded first prize for its Roast Saddle of Lamb.
Kevan Downing is delighted with the three awards.

“This achievement has again been made possible by the continued support of senior management, the farm partnership with Huw McConochie, and the efforts of all the Hospitality Services team.

“This, coupled with the ability to source great fresh local produce, means that our restaurants are providing some of the healthiest local dishes in a sustainable way. My biggest thank-you goes to our ever-increasing number of customers who support our efforts, from our own students and staff, through to our conference customers and all those locally who continue to use our restaurants”, he added.

Now in their eighth year, the Welsh Assembly Government managed awards reflect the increased demands from consumers for locally sourced produce along with those of the export market place. The 2009/10 awards has seen some 860 entries from over 400 companies – over half of producers in Wales.

The independently judged awards were founded to recognise and reward quality and innovation across the food and drink and hospitality sectors.

This year there were 18 award categories catering for all areas of food and drink production, retail and hospitality sectors as well as a new Export Achievement Category, which was won by The Anglesey Sea Salt Company.

Rural Affairs Minister, Elin Jones said, “The Wales the True Taste Food and Drink Awards are a tremendous showcase for the Welsh food and drink industry.

Once again the Awards have highlighted just how much high quality food is available here, and I congratulate all those who have received awards.

“Earlier this year I launched our Local Sourcing Action Plan which encourages us all to buy more Welsh food. There are so many benefits to buying local: from reducing food miles and supporting the local economy, to the reassurance that comes with knowing where our food comes from and how it has been produced.”