Colors: Green Color
Colors: Green Color

With an estimated three million children at risk of being hungry during the school holidays in the UK this summer, and as food bank usage is reportedly hitting record highs, Welcome Community Garden and Breath of Life Community Garden have joined a nationwide initiative to grow and donate fresh fruit and vegetables to those in need.

 

The charitable initiative sees gardening brand Miracle-Gro connect with FoodCycle projects across the country, including Birmingham, to support those at risk of food poverty and social isolation. With the long-term aim to alleviate the nation’s food poverty crisis, the partnership hopes to kick-start a trend for green-fingered Brits to use their hobby for a wider social purpose by donating their surplus crops.

 

To achieve the surplus crop, Welcome Community Garden and Breath of Life Community Garden will be armed with supplies of Miracle-Gro results-driven plant food. The All-Purpose range promises 50% extra tomatoes and 10 times the fruit weight of courgettes compared to unfed: produce which will then be put to good use to create delicious, nutritious meals for those experiencing hunger and loneliness.

 

Gardener at Welcome Community Garden, Sam Marsh, commented:

“Within community gardens, we grow a range of fresh fruit and vegetables. Coupled with the pressure food banks are facing, there is clearly scope for us to support those in need. By using Miracle-Gro All-Purpose Liquid Plant Food, we will be able to grow a larger quantity of edibles, which we’ll be donating. This is incredibly rewarding and has the potential to make a real difference to our communities. I encourage others with an allotment or garden patch to do the same.”

 

Justin Powell, Regional Manager at FoodCycle in Birmingham, commented:

“Since 2009, FoodCycle has served over 250,000 meals to those in need, and we are excited for the potential of our partnership with Miracle-Gro to grow this figure further. The volume of fresh produce from the local growers will help ensure our meals continue to be delicious and nutritious. We believe firmly that food waste and food poverty should not co-exist; this is the perfect way to put the surplus produce achieved to good use.”

 

Lindsay Cooper, Plant Food Category Manager at Evergreen Garden Care UK Ltd., commented:

“Despite 86% of the UK population having access to their own green space, over a quarter (26%) use their outdoor space for eating, entertaining and sunbathing only. We are urging these people to try their hand at growing fruit and vegetables with Miracle-Gro. Combined with those who already grow, the volume of extra yield produced and made available for projects like FoodCycle could be huge.”

Children in a West Bromwich primary school are swapping their unhealthy junk food in favour of fruit and healthy snacks this month in a bid to eat more healthily.
Hargate Primary School children are being encouraged to choose healthier options at lunchtime. They have been choosing snacks like bananas, dried fruit and salad and handing in their packets of crisps and chocolate.
The drive against junk food has also taken place at a number of schools across Sandwell and was discussed at the recent School Nurse Ambassadors event between Sandwell school pupils, nurses and staff.
The project encourages children to act as ambassadors for the health of their fellow pupils by promoting all kinds of health and well-being messages from the importance of healthy eating to anti-bullying projects.
Councillor Simon Hackett, cabinet member for children's services is pleased the children and school staff are taking such a positive approach towards healthy eating. He said: "The school Nurse Ambassador programme is designed so school children can swap ideas about staying healthy and this is a great example.
"I am pleased to see the children are very aware about what is healthy and are making their own choices about what to swap."
Teacher Gabbie Thorp and school well-being lead Helen Penn implemented the no junk July at Hargate Primary School after hearing how successful it had been at other schools.
Helen said: "We heard that other schools in the area had been doing this through the School Nurse Ambassador programme and wanted to implement it here at Hargate Primary.
"The idea has proven to be a real success. We are now seeing less and less unhealthy food being brought in by the children. We hope this will continue in school after the holidays."

Squirrel Sisters is a health & wellness brand founded by two sisters, Sophie & Gracie Tyrrell.

Squirrel Sisters have a range of award winning bars that are innovative in format, beautifully packaged and first and foremost delicious... as well as being made with 100% natural ingredients of the highest quality. Their products also fit in with increasingly popular lifestyle choices including vegan, dairy-free, grain-free, gluten- free, paleo, raw and more.

Gracie & Sophie are sisters on a mission to help people make better and healthier choices more often...

... and they are doing just that.

Having started making their bars at home in the family kitchen a few years ago using a blender (that was officially for smoothies) they are now producing 1000's of bars a month to provide all their retailers nationwide across the U.K and abroad!

Their dream was to have their products stocked in Waitrose and that's now areality! The girls launched their bars into selected Waitrose stores and online!

Squirrel Sisters is still a tiny team (just 3 full time) so launching into major retailers is incredibly exciting for the team. Their mission is to make healthy fun, delicious and accessible and this launch has achieved just that!

It's the coolest news of the summer – classic English drink Pimm's is to be launched on British high streets as an ice lolly.

Pimm's POPS, which contain just 32 calories, will be exclusively available at nearly 700 Tesco stores across the UK.

The move should please the UK's growing army of adult ice lolly fans as in the last year demand has grown by 10 per cent.

Tesco ice cream buyer Sonia Morland said:

These refreshing ice lollies are a guilt-free treat and represent a glass of Pimm's in frozen form. 

“With the present heatwave showing no end we think this great tasting ice lolly is set to be a hit at BBQs for the rest of the summer.”

Tesco has partnered with market leader POPS who have previously produced licensed products for both Fever-Tree and Fortnum & Mason.

The lollies have an ABV alcoholic rating of 4.3% per popsicle and will only be on sale to adults aged 18 and over - information that is written on the product itself.

And similar to alcohol, the lollies will indicate that the buyer needs to have ID to show they are aged 18 or over.

Earlier this year Tesco launched Halo Top, a healthier ice cream that has gone on to become a best seller in America after launching there just five years ago.

The Halo Top range has between 280-360 calories per one pint pot, and despite only launching five years ago is now amongst America's top selling ice creams.

And two years ago the supermarket launched the UK's first ever watermelon ice lolly – the first 100 per cent fruit lolly treat.

Tesco is set to make a multi-million pound investment in the British lamb industry by introducing improved cost of production contracts for around 160 of its British lamb farmers.

The contracts represent the latest step in Tesco's drive to build long-term transparent partnerships with its suppliers and farmers, and will see farmers up and down the UK benefit from a price based on the average cost of production across the group. The price will be set for 12 months, before being reviewed for the second year of the contract.

All the farmers are part of the Tesco Sustainable Farming Group for lamb, a group set up in 2014 to strengthen Tesco's relationship with British lamb farmers and processors. The group meets on a regular basis to share knowledge, customer insight, and best practice around sustainability and animal welfare.

Tesco made the announcement at the Royal Welsh Show, with around a third of the farmers included in the scheme based in Wales.

George Wright, Tesco's Commercial Director for Fresh Food said:

“We know many lamb farmers are looking for stability to overcome the uncertainty surrounding CAP payments, so we're delighted to be offering these industry-leading COP contracts to 160 lamb farmers across the UK. Through our ten Sustainable Farming Groups, we're building transparent, long-term partnerships with our farmers and producers, and our cost of production model is the next stage in ensuring our farmers have the confidence to invest in their businesses and build for the future. The door is open for more British lamb farmers to join us and take advantage of the new model.”

Tesco's lamb farmers welcomed the news. Richard and Sarah Wilde, lamb farmers from Welshpool, Powys who have been supplying Tesco with lamb for over 5 years said:

“This cost of production model is great news for our farm as it gives us a guaranteed price for our lamb for the next 12 months. It means we and other lamb farmers in Wales and across the UK can invest and plan for the future with confidence, and ensure we continue to provide Tesco customers with the very best British lamb.”

Tesco is actively looking for more farmers to join the scheme, with next year's contracts starting on the 1 April.

The news comes just weeks after Tesco announced new contracts for its Aberdeen Angus beef farmers and the relaunch of the Tesco Sustainable Farming Group for Beef. Tesco now operates 10 Sustainable Farming Groups covering areas including lamb, beef, poultry and eggs, cheese and potatoes.

The Traditional Free Range Egg Company is celebrating yet more success following the release of this year's Taste of the West awards, taking home two Golds and one Silver across its Free Collection, as owners, Dan and Briony Wood continue to fly the flag for traditional free range egg farming. Following up on its South West Producer of the Year trophy in 2017, the Somerset-based free range egg producer and supplier picked up Gold for both its Rambling Free hens eggs and Dabbling Free goose eggs, and Silver for its Waddling Free duck eggs, whilst its Foraging Free quail eggs were also highly commended.

Applauded for their appearance and taste, Dabbling Free goose eggs were described by the judges as “a great looking egg” with a “wonderfully creamy” texture and “excellently rounded” flavour. Meanwhile, Rambling Free hens eggs, produced using the traditional flat deck method, drew praise from the judges for the “glorious” colour of their rich and vibrant yolks, with the judges simply commenting, “they taste great”.

Dan Wood, managing director of The Traditional Free Range Egg Company, explains: “We're overjoyed to see eggs from our Free Collection winning awards for another consecutive year and it's a real testament to the consistency and quality of egg that can be produced using traditional farming methods. We have always believed that truly free range birds lay the best of the bunch, and we hope that these accolades will inspire like-minded family-run farms to resist the more industrialised methods that are now dominating free range egg production.”