An official website of the United States government.
FSA Scotland commissioned research to;
<p>
Explore the extent to which the Target Nutrient Specifications for Manufactured Products has improved the food supplied to the education sector,
and to investigate the influence the specifications has had on food supplied across other public sector organisations in Scotland and to the education sector in the rest of the UK.<p>
This research project will consist of approximately 36 semi structured telephone interviews. A small amount of quantitative data will be collected to provide some limited quantification of impact. The majority of information gathered will be qualitative in nature to provide contextual data on areas such as product development activity and uptake of products.
Research will be conducted initially among suppliers, producers and manufacturers. This will be followed with interviews with procurement consortia purchasing on behalf of local authorities; directly with local authority purchasers and with PFI contractors. This will cover the education and social care sectors. The final interview group will consist of the Scottish Prison Service and the Scottish Healthcare Supplies who purchase food and drink supplies on behalf of the Prisons and the NHS respectively.
The Scottish Executive aims to improve the Scottish diet, particularly of schoolchildren through improving the standards of Scottish school meals as outlined in Hungry for Success: A Whole School Approach to School Meals in Scotland (HfS) (Scottish Executive 2002). It sets national nutrient standards for school meals and describes an operational framework, which is set in the context of health promoting schools and a whole-school approach to food and health. Target nutrient specifications for manufactured products (TNSMP) (Food Standards Agency Scotland 2004) were developed in Scotland to assist purchasers and caterers with meeting the Scottish Nutrient Standards for School Lunches as set out in Hungry for Success.
<p>
Target maximum values have been set for total fat, saturated fat, sodium and total sugar. In addition, a minimum protein specification has been set for certain savoury products to ensure that the vegetarian/vegan menu will also meet the nutrient standards.
<p>
In keeping with the desire of the Scottish Executive to improve the diet of adults as well as schoolchildren, they have published a commitment to ensure adequate nutritional standards in public sector organisations such as prisons, hospitals and care homes. The Food Standards Agency Scotland (FSAS) shares this commitment to 'encourage the public sector to provide healthy food in schools, hospitals and other institutions' (FSA 2005).
<p>
In order to do this most effectively, FSA Scotland wish to learn from the experience of Local Authority food purchasing and provision services who are implementing Hungry for Success in the education sector in Scotland
<p>Find more about this project and other FSA food safety-related projects at the <a href="http://www.food.gov.uk/science/research/" target="_blank">Food Standards Agency Research webpage</a>.