Healthy eating awards for Teesside University

Staff and students at Teesside University have more healthy eating choices than ever before thanks to a partnership with Middlesbrough Council.

Healthy menus are now the order of the day at campus restaurants and snack bars with bronze, silver and gold awards up for grabs under the Food4Health initiative.

Food4Health Healthy Eating Awards were developed by the Council’s Community Protection Service to help local food businesses meet consumer demand for healthier foods.

It is awarded to businesses that offer healthy food options and promote healthy eating, with award levels of bronze, silver and gold being achieved.

University catering staff have been re-working dishes and have introduced new items to their menus to ensure their customers can make healthier food choices.

Their dedication to providing and promoting healthy meals led to the University’s catering outlets achieving Food4Health Awards.

Café mima at Middlesbrough’s flagship modern art gallery - which is run by the University’s catering services - also picked up a Food4Health Award.

Teesside University Catering Operations Manager Jill Reid said: 'At the University we understand the importance and the benefits of healthy eating.

'We feel it is our responsibility to ensure our students are offered the opportunity to maintain an affordable, varied and healthy diet whilst studying on campus.

'This is especially important for students who have moved away from home and are now living on their own for the first time.

'The catering service on campus specialises in offering healthy foods, snacks and drink options, from fresh salads, fruit, baked crisps and healthy sandwiches to jacket potatoes, homemade vegetable soups and casseroles.

'We are delighted to receive the Food4Health Award and we will continue to develop our menus and catering practices to ensure our students and University staff can make healthy choices when using our catering facilities.'

The catering service has now joined forces with the University’s Student Services to deliver healthy cooking courses for students. The courses are delivered by the service together with students who are studying food and nutrition at the University.

University Well-being Services Coordinator Hazel Wright added: 'Our students know how important it is to learn how to cook healthy foods that are well within their budgets.

'Students are particularly interested in the ‘Fakeaways’ session that teaches them how to replicate something they could get from a takeaway but making it healthier and more affordable and in some cases remove their reliance on ready meals and takeaway foods.

'We are working towards establishing the University as a setting to improve and promote the health of our students, and improving their diet goes some way towards achieving this.'

Councillor Julia Rostron, Middlesbrough Council’s Executive Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health, said: 'Supporting our student population to eat well and live healthy lifestyles not only benefits the students but helps us to tackle some of the diet-related health concerns we are faced with in Middlesbrough.

'The Food4Health initiative has helped to improve the diet of many people in Middlesbrough and it is a credit to the University for its commitment to improving student welfare and creating a healthy place in which to live and learn.'

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