Agenda item

Presentation and verbal update from John Rooke, Managing Director of North Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Care Partnership.

An update was provided on healthy eating and healthy weight by John Rooke, Managing Director, of North Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Care Partnership.

Members made comments, asked questions, and received responses as follows:

·         Councillor Taylor stated that he has been working with MP Steven Barclay on the Feed Fenland project and he visited a care home and found a freezer full of convenience food for the residents which had been imported and asked why processed food is so cheap stating this needs to be investigated if things are to change.

·         Councillor Mrs Laws stated that education is needed around seasonal foods and cooking from scratch. She expressed the view that this could be started at a school age with the use of community allotments to see how food is grown and then learning to use items in the kitchen like a slow cooker for convenience and low-cost meals rather than convenience meals.

·         Councillor Marks stated his observation has been that a lot of life choices comes down to convenience as the average household does not have the time to cook a family meal due to parents working and children are not introduced to vegetables very much anymore at home or at school because it is easier to feed children what they want which does not always mean healthy. John Rooke responded though councils and partnerships there is a degree of control about what sort of food is served in schools and care homes, there has been work happening to get people excited about food which does include local cookery lessons which have proved successful and as a result of this there are plans to expand this further and to start looking at what sort of equipment people need to enable this whether it be a slow cooker or it is basic equipment like pots, pans etc. He added that there is a plan to explore how potentially local produce can be used locally in food banks instead of ultra processed foods and also within the care homes.

·         Councillor Marks stated that education is needed within the food industry for children as so many children do not know that milk comes from cows and potatoes come out of the ground. He added that food waste is something else that needs to be addressed, for example it is coming up to Halloween and the average farm will move between 16-17 million pumpkins but around 100,000 of those pumpkins will end up in the bin or recycling and not even be used for food purposes. Councillor Marks stated that if children could be educated that when carving a pumpkin for Halloween the carvings could be made into pumpkin soup for example that would make a big difference to their education.

·         Councillor Mrs Laws stated education needs to start at home and feels school trips to local farms should be on the curriculum to strengthen children’s education and domestic science.

·         Councillor Taylor stated that he has tried to invite schools to his farm but due to Health and Safety laws this does not make it viable.

·         Councillor Count stated in the presentation there is a large section on ultra processed foods and the harm they can cause with the focus being mainly on snacks. He continued to ask how the takeaway scene feeds into this because from another perspective there is talk around

takeaways being bad for you due to calories and portion sizes, in the case of the ultra processed foods from the document is this the most damaging end of the sphere. John Rooke responded that the ultra processed foods are the most damaging for consumers due to the different chemicals, preservatives, monosodium glutamate and high levels of salt added plus the level of some meats are not of the best cuts and can be substituted compared to some takeaways that do cook fresh ingredients like Indian, fish and chips or Chinese.

·         Councillor Taylor stated that he did some research two years ago into takeaways in March town and found this evidence to be true in regard of different preservatives being used in takeaway food.

·         Councillor Mrs Laws referred to a project the chef Jamie Oliver started around not encouraging snack bars and shops within local school areas and stated this is something the local Council can investigate when looking through the local planning review and use this knowledge for future plans that are submitted.

·         John Rooke stated that Peterborough Council are putting restrictions on advertising unhealthy foods around its city and on buses and this is something that would be good to replicate with the County Council and District Councils.

·         Councillor Marks agreed with the restriction on advertising and stated in some cases the younger generation are changing the way they eat but it can also be in some cases the older generation that are not willing to change because their palettes are not used to the artificial flavourings or sweeteners that are an alternative offer. John Rooke stated there is some national legislation guidelines to help with how advertising can be changed and what could be achieved locally. He continued there are times every adult needs to take responsibility and understand that the foods that are less healthy are fine in moderation and it is not for the authorities to police how people live their lives but providing enough information for them to improve the number of healthy alternatives for people to consider.

·         Councillor Mrs Laws asked if North Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Care Partnership is working with local food banks? John Rooke replied there is a good connection with all the local food banks in the area but one area that is being considered is instead of supplying families with a can of processed soup, could a bag of vegetables be given instead and there has also been suggestions of food banks having their own allotments to help support local people having access to local produce.

·         Councillor Taylor stated the majority of local farms that grow vegetables have stock feed available that is possibly not acceptable for the supermarket shelf and asked if this could be put to better use? John Rooke stated this is an area that is being investigated.

·         Councillor Mrs Laws offered a suggestion of adding a recipe card with any bags of vegetables given out to encourage cooking on a budget.

Members noted the information provided.

(Councillor Taylor declared that he has involvement with North Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Care Partnership but has no conflict of interest)