Food Ingredients

All caterers must provide safe food but many customers want to make sure that the food they consume has wider attributes such as being produced in a sustainable manner.

The document below contain information on these and other food related subjects that can assure customers that Caterers are procuring food that is sustainable and is also efficient

• Food Quality Standards Publication (14MB)

(If you are using parts of the above standard please always download the foreword)

The Food Standards Agency were an integral part the production of these standards and they said

"The Food Standards Agency is pleased to be part of this cross Government approach which will contribute towards the health of the nation through food procurement in the public sector.  We encourage our colleagues in Other Government Departments, Local Authorities and other areas of public food provision to adopt these procurement standards which ill ensure value for money and safe and healthy eating for all."

Some Authorities may augment the criteria within these standards with additional requirements, which are specific to the needs of their particular consumer group. Procuring Authorities should always consider the EU procurement rules ¹ when preparing specifications, and must ensure that any criteria set relevant to the subject of the contract, are non-discriminatory and do not create unjustified obstacles to the open competition in procurement

Authorities should use these documents when tendering for food products. These documents contain a forward and 37 separate commodity documents. These are intended to provide guidance to suppliers and Authorities, and Authorities will need to add to them to meet their specific procurement requirements. For example Authorities contracting for school food must include the food based and nutrient based standards introduced by government.

The forward contains references to the source documents relating to Food Law as they apply in England. All references to the law in these standards are to the law as it applied at the time of publication.

When using these standards Authorities will need to take their own legal advice to ensure that all current laws are complied with.

The Term Authorities is used throughout the documents to denote the body responsible for spending public money.

¹ Directive 2004/18/EC, as implemented in the UK by the Public Contracts Regulations 2006.