Cafes make a healthy choice

TWO Banbridge businesses are among the first in the District to achieve the Council's new 'CHOICE' Award for offering healthy food choices to their customers.

Staff from Caf Lagoon and the Windsor Bakery visited the council offices yesterday to receive their award from the council’s Director of Environmental Services, David Lindsay.

Mr Lindsay praised both businesses for participating in the new healthy eating scheme, which is designed to increase the availability of healthy food in local cafs and restaurants.

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Launched in March 2009, the “Choosing Healthier Options In Catering Establishments” (CHOICE) scheme enables local businesses to work closely with a dietician specialist, whose post has been funded by the Southern Investing for Health Partnership.The dietician specialist will provide tailored advice and support and help the business offer their customers greater choice and reflect their expectations in terms of healthier eating.

Council Lead Environmental Health Officer Gavin Marshall said, “Unlike packaged food, food bought from cafs and restaurants doesn’t have to carry nutritional information.

“Therefore, it’s harder to choose the healthiest option when eating out as customers have little control over how the food is prepared or how large the portion is.

“CHOICE isn’t about taking chips off the menu. It’s about providing a range of choices such as pasta, rice or potatoes, providing more fruit and vegetables and using less salt.

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“Through CHOICE, we want to increase the availability of healthy food and raise awareness of healthy eating.

“We are keen to work with more food businesses in the local area with the aim of helping them reduce the amount of salt, sugar and fat in many dishes while at the same time improving the taste of their food,” he added.

To find out more about the CHOICE healthy eating scheme, contact the Council’s Environmental Health Department 4066 0606.

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