Fife Looks Locally for Red Meat Supply
SCOTLAND, UK - School children and the elderly in Fife can be assured they have good food on their plates thanks to Fife Council’s support for local farmers.
30 July 2008
2 minute read
The council and Quality Meat Scotland (QMS) recently collaborated on a full traceability audit of the red meat supplied to Fife’s school kitchens, residential homes and staff canteens.
The audit showed that most of the Scotch beef and all the specially selected pork comes from farms across Fife, and the Scotch lamb came from just across the Tay in Angus.
This is the latest stage of the ‘Field to Fork’ project, a programme of work carried out by QMS with public sector buyers, to ensure fair and sustainable procedures are in place to enable Scottish companies to compete effectively for contracts.
* "Sustainable sourcing of red meat in the public sector supports our communities by sustaining jobs and local economies." |
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Laurent Vernet, Head of Marketing for QMS
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Head of Marketing for QMS, Laurent Vernet, said: “Sustainable sourcing of red meat in the public sector supports our communities by sustaining jobs and local economies.
“It also makes it possible for school children in our communities to eat fresh red meat to assured standards such as those of quality, production standards and animal health and welfare delivered by the Scottish Industry.
“We are working hard to dispel the myth that limited resources mean that our kids can’t eat our country’s high quality produce.”
John Cosgrove, the council’s Procurement and Supplies Manager said: “Whilst our procurement process is open and competitive, our policy encourages sustainable, local business.
"We source food and other products locally, where possible, to support Fife’s economy and to reduce our carbon footprint. The less distance the food has to travel to feed Fifers, the better.”
Councillor Elizabeth Riches, Depute Leader of the Council and Vice Chair of the Policy, Finance & Asset Management Committee said that procurement best practice is helping Fife prosper as well as to become greener.
“Scottish produce, and Fife produce, is some of the best in the world and I’m proud that we’re feeding it to Fifers in our care.
“Our local procurement strategy not only supports local farmers and other businesses, it also supports our commitment to the Scottish Climate Change Declaration and the work of our Carbon Emissions Reduction Board.”
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