Healthy Meals on Wheels
David Brown, Trading Standards Officer in West Sussex explains how he worked with the Council’s Social and Caring Services, Women’s Royal Voluntary Service and West Yorkshire Scientific Services to examine the nutritional standards of meals supplied to older adults in the community.
Summary
In 2004 West Sussex County Council Trading Standards became involved in nutritional analysis of meals, which are provided by the Council via the Women’s Royal Voluntary Service (WRVS) to older adults. The meals that had been made by a company called Tillery Valley Foods based in Wales were delivered to the WRVS who then regenerated them before delivering them to older adults. Trading Standards chose meals from the menu options, and these were kept aside by the locally based WRVS, collected and then sent to the Analyst to check that they met levels recommended by the National Association for Care Catering (NACC). http://www.abssc.org.uk/DesktopDefault.aspx.
Project Name: Healthy Meals on Wheels in West Sussex
Project Start Date: 2004
Project Location Type: Rural and city
Project Origins and original aims/Objectives and purpose of the project:
In addition to the many usual activities of a trading standards service one officer in West Sussex also has a further role in helping to audit 18 other services within the Council. Bruce Treloar, whose post is partially funded by these other services, advises on the procurement of goods and equipment by the Council. One of the services purchased by the Council is meals for older adults. David Brown who had recently carried out nutritional work on the Council’s school lunchboxes decided to look at the meals being provided by the Council for older adults. This work also linked in well with the trading standards business plan that has a focus on healthy eating.
Organisations Involved:
1. West Sussex Trading Standards Service
2. West Sussex Social and Caring Service
3. West Sussex Procurement
4. West Yorkshire Scientific Services
5. Tillery Valley Foods (part of Sodexho) Meal Supplier
6. Women’s Royal Voluntary Service
Target Audience:
Older adults in West Sussex living at home.
Methodology:
David Brown initially began with a call to Social and Caring Services explaining that he wished to examine the nutritional content of ‘meals on wheels’. The Nutritionist employed by the Service was more than happy to assist and directed David to the nutritional standards set by NACC. If the Analyst had not referred to these standards, it would have meant that the results could only be compared to generally accepted national nutritional data rather than a set of criteria specifically aimed at the older generation. The Women’s Royal Voluntary Service have the contract to supply meals for the Council and were sourcing the food from Tillery Valley Foods, who are part of the national food company, Sodexho, who supply many local authorities and the NHS. The WRVS were approached and agreed to put by a selection of meals from a two-week menu cycle that were chosen by Trading Standards. These were then collected, sealed in bags and transferred to the Analyst via courier. The Analyst weighed the meals and carried out a macro-nutritional analysis, which looked at energy, protein, carbohydrate, fat and also included salt. The results can be found in the attached report and indicate that in several meals the criteria set had not been met, in some cases this was confused by poor portion size control.
David again met with the Nutritionist to discuss the results and their recommendations were passed onto the manufacturer. It was agreed with the manufacturer for these results to be referred to when devising the meals and for Trading Standards to carry out an audit at the factory for both procurement issues and food standards purposes
Funding:
- Social and Caring Services paid for the meals
- Trading Standards – @2 days officer time per year
- Analysts Costs (paid by Trading Standards) - £75 per sample or for more extensive testing £300
Recruitment and Other Resources:
All the meals were taken as informal samples, thus a qualified food officer was not necessary, however, it is important to have the trading standards food expertise for factory auditing purposes, and have access to a dietician/nutritionist and a Public Analyst.
Sustainability:
This was the first time the meals had been analysed and it is expected that the exercise will be repeated as the analytical results did raise some concerns.
Evaluation:
The project was very useful in that it raised some important issues regarding:
- Procurement quality control issues
- Portion control of the meals
- Nutritional standards
Lessons learnt:
David commented that they had found it essential to have the NACC standard to refer to. The manufacturer had not been requested to follow this standard previously, but was more than happy to take the recommendations and the criteria set on board. David also mentions the importance to have access to a nutritionist/dietician and an Analyst.
Future Developments:
As previously mentioned this project will be repeated and it is intended for the results to be more widely publicised with the Women’s Royal Voluntary Service.
Please feel free to contact David if you have any queries or comments about this case study.
Name: David Brown
Position: Principal Trading Standards Officer
Address:
West Sussex Trading Standards
Service
Trading Standards Service
Centenary House
Durrington Lane
Worthing
West Sussex
BN13 2QB
Telephone: 01903 839 731
Email address: david.brown@westsussex.gov.uk