Salsa members drive local produce scheme further

22nd January 2008, 3:35pm

With the drive for locally sourced food vastly increasing throughout the foodservice industry, the self-funding Salsa online scheme is finding ways of supporting businesses who want to buy from smaller, local suppliers.

Maria Bracken attended the debate and discovered the Salsa's vision for the future.

 A morning conference held at Brown's Restaurant, Covent Garden, last week highlighted the scheme's success so far, as well as raising the areas of concern.

The initiative, which launched at the International Food Exhibition (IFE) in March last year, has been developed by the British Hospitality Association, National Farmers' Union, Food & Drink Federation and the British Retail Consortium, and is supported by Defra and the Food Standards Agency.

It aims to provide assurance that – as the demand for locally sourced produce rises – approved local suppliers will meet food safety and other legal requirements, as well opening new opportunities to supply hotels, restaurants and caterers, both locally and nationally.

Auditing takes place over half a day. Recommendation is made for: approval for certification, approval for certification after completion of agreed improvement action plan, or no approval – business must reapply for Salsa audit.

The morning conference raised the significance of the aims of the scheme using a series of presentations from members of the Governance Council, food retailers and food service groups that are already using the scheme, including Asda and Waitrose.

The Food Standards Agency, who are heavily involved in the scheme, are currently providing workshops for small businesses which will offer advice covering: information about the Agency itself; how they are hoping to help businesses with the scheme, and what people can expect from the Agency.

They are also encouraging people to come straight through to the Agency for help.

Salsa trained professionals also discussed their mentoring and auditing of local suppliers who have already enrolled in the scheme.

To push the online scheme further, the website's functionality has improved, making it more efficient and easier to use. The site now offers up-to-date news pages for both its members and buyers.

A Salsa directory with the full listings of suppliers allows visitors to log on and view the history and standard of each supplier. Auditors and mentors are also available to provide advice and information within 48-hours of a request.

Success stories from producers lifted the spirits of the scheme.

 Kate Kent from Battle Bakehouse started her business with no idea about the standards of food and where to find companies to supply with.

 But with the help of Salsa, which she joined in July 2007, her company now supplies to supermarket giant's such as Sainsbury's.

Salsa has enabled her to achieve the standard required from buyers, giving her a 'bottom line'. It also made her focus on what she wanted to achieve and gave her greater confidence in her products.

Other supporters of the scheme include foodservice companies Brakes Group, 3663 First for Foodservice, Elior, and Food From Britain.

Since the scheme was inaugurated, there have been a total of 645 online registrations, with 163 Salsa members working towards approval as a Salsa supplier. Around 65 of these have achieved a Salsa approval.

Although these figures are high, they are still not enough for Salsa to succeed and grow. A spokesman from the Governance Council explained that Salsa needs 500 or more audits this year to break even. There are currently just 60 auditors who have trained by regional training sessions.

There needs to be more support from buyers and more people becoming members to make the scheme succeed and achieve its highest possible standard.

Other questions of concern raised in the meeting included:

• Will standards be consistent throughout every company?
• Will there always be enough auditors available to help with queries and advice?

The Council reiterated that the scheme is still in its implementing stages but assured that all of these issues will be resolved and dealt with in due course.

A current auditor of Salsa raised an interesting point regarding trust within the industry: "In order for the scheme to succeed and achieve its aims, it needs to prove itself over the years for retailers and producers to back it. The standard base has to be satisfied by multiple retailers."

Other organisations to attend the meeting included Heart of England Fine Foods, Specialist Cheesemakers Associations, Malmaison Hotels, Taylors Regional Foods, and Premier Foods.

For further details or to become a Salsa member log onto www.salsafood.co.uk

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