Pubs sign up to healthy eating

5th February 2009, 12:00pm

Six of the UK's leading pub restaurant companies including JD Wetherspoons and Greene King have signed up to the Food Standard Agency's plan, which aims to get people eating more healthily outside the home.

The companies include some of the country's best known pub chains; JD Wetherspoons, Greene King, Marston's Inns, Mitchells & Butlers, the Spirit Group and Whitbread. They serve more than a million meals a day between them.

The FSA said today that the pubs will also be running their own specific projects throughout 2009, which will all share the aim of helping customers make healthier choices.

Pubs have agreed to:

Work with suppliers to reduce salt and saturated fat levels, and remove trans fats in best-selling products. In many cases, this includes committing to meeting Agency salt targets for core products.

Bring together new teams, and launching new projects to develop long-term plans for making their menus healthier.

Launch training for kitchen and serving staff on nutrition and healthy cooking practices.

Offer more menu choice - with new healthier options, a wider range of alternatives to chips, increasing the amount of vegetables served with meals, reducing the number of fried dishes on the menu, and even pricing healthy options below their other meals.

Swap sauces, dressings and frying oils for alternatives that are lower in saturated fat.

Make nutritional information more readily available to customers - in some cases gathering information for the first time.

Each company has agreed to provide a six month update to the Agency on the progress of this work.

Rosemary Hignett, Head of Nutrition at the Food Standards Agency, said: "Pubs have always been popular places for couples and families to eat out together. We're delighted that these pubs have decided to work alongside us, because it shows that caterers can make some really positive changes without taking the pleasure out of a special occasion."

In November last year, commitments were also published by six leading quick service restaurants, Burger King, McDonald's, KFC, Wimpy, Subway and Nandos, who between them serve around 3 million customers every day.

Related Articles:

• 29 Jul 2009 - 'We must make healthy options more attainable'
• 09 Jun 2009 - Greene King expands portfolio with 11 Punch pubs
• 13 May 2009 - JD Wetherspoon gets saucy with Levi Roots
• 06 May 2009 - JD Wetherspoon announces positive trading
• 01 May 2009 - Wetherspoon only pub listed in Britain's Top Employers
• 11 Mar 2009 - Whitbread embarks on skills for life training
• 06 Mar 2009 - Coffee chains serve healthy eating commitments

Click here to submit a comment!

Have your say!

To comment on this article, simply enter your name and email and send us your views. Please note that your comment will appear publicly below this article once it has been processed. For enquiries please email info@eatoutmagazine.co.uk.