Top Tourist Attraction Scoops National Award for Healthy Eating
29 July 2008
One of Scotland’s top tourist attractions has received a major healthy eating award, after catering staff made more than half the café menu low in fat, sugar and salt.
The cafe at The Falkirk Wheel, where more than 1000 people eat every day in high season, has achieved the national healthyliving award after making it easy for visitors to buy healthy options.
Instead of chicken mayonnaise baguettes and creamy soups, visitors to the popular attraction can now enjoy Thai Prawn sandwiches on brown bread and home-made soups with fresh herbs and seasonal vegetables.
The healthyliving award was launched in 2006 and aims to make it easier for people to choose healthy options when they eat out. A wide range of food outlets such as cafes, snack vans and workplace canteens are encouraged to fill at least half their menu with healthyliving options – food that is prepared using both healthier ingredients and healthier cooking methods.
Carole Keltie, Destinations Manager at The Falkirk Wheel, says the changes are a reflection of growing customer demand for healthier options.
She explained: “People are becoming more aware of the need to eat healthier and we want to make it easier for them by offering plenty of tasty healthy options and by making it obvious what the healthy options are.
“For example, we used to serve sandwiches with popular fillings such as tuna mayonnaise but our updated version – tuna with home-made salsa – is actually more popular and the feedback from customers has been fantastic.
“We have visitors from far and wide to The Falkirk Wheel, as well as a lot of Scottish families and many local people eat here regularly, so we feel we have a responsibility to offer them all a tasty and nutritious lunch.
“Scotland’s canals provide many opportunities for people to exercise, relax and enjoy Scotland’s natural heritage and wildlife. By providing a healthier menu in The Falkirk Wheel café British Waterways Scotland continues to contribute to a healthier Scotland.”
Visitors to The Falkirk Wheel café can now choose from a wide range of healthier options including Thai Carrot and Coriander soup and healthyliving scones, which are served with healthier spreads such as sunflower spread.
All soups are now prepared using fresh herbs and seasonal vegetables instead of bouillon and parents choosing lunch-box options for their children more often than not opt for fresh fruit instead of chocolate.
The national healthyliving award has been an unprecedented success, with 345 public and private sector food outlets across Scotland already signed up.
The award is open to most food serving outlets in Scotland, with a particular focus on places where people eat regularly, such as staff restaurants, high street cafes and snack vans.
Claire Brown, Project Manager of the healthyliving award, said: “I am delighted to see a popular attraction like The Falkirk wheel achieve the healthyliving award.
“The award is about making it easier for people to buy something healthy when they eat out and the menu at The Falkirk Wheel shows this doesn’t have to mean only serving salads - popular dishes can be adapted to make them healthier.
“Scotland is leading the way in this area and the fact that so many international tourists visit the site can only be a good thing for Scotland’s reputation when it comes to food.”
The Falkirk Wheel was originally designed to reconnect the Forth & Clyde and Union Canals between Glasgow and Edinburgh, re-establishing east to west coast access for boats. The Wheel is a fitting symbol (centrepiece) for the £84.5 million Millennium Link project, the largest UK canal restoration ever.
The exceptional feat of engineering, situated in a natural amphitheatre outside Falkirk, is also a sculpture for the 21st century and is and is the only structure of its kind in the world.
To qualify for the healthyliving award, caterers need to meet a set of key criteria, which includes a commitment to providing and supporting healthier eating, as demonstrated on the menu selection, the way they prepare food, marketing and promotional activities and the way in which food is presented and sold.
At least half of the food they serve needs to be a healthyliving choice, prepared using both healthier ingredients and healthier cooking methods, and healthy and nutritious food is required to be available for children in places where they are served.
The healthyliving award is supported by the Scottish Government.
For further information on how to apply for the healthyliving award, please contact 0141 226 5261 or visit www.healthylivingaward.co.uk
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Issued by the BIG Partnership on behalf of the Scottish Consumer Council
For further information or interview requests, contact Kim Munro on 0141 333 9585 (office), 07966 224910 (mobile) or kim@bigpartnership.co.uk or Elaine Brewer on 0141 333 9585 (office), 07795 435 484, or Elaine@bigpartnership.co.uk
Notes to Editors
To qualify for the healthyliving award, caterers need to meet a set of key criteria, which includes a commitment to providing and supporting healthier eating, as demonstrated on the menu selection, the way they prepare food, marketing and promotional activities and the way in which food is presented and sold.
The Scottish Consumer Council was set up by the government in 1975 to promote the interests of consumers, particularly those who experience disadvantage in society. While producers and suppliers of goods and services are usually well organised when protecting their own interests, individual consumers very often are not. The people we represent are consumers of all kinds: they may be council tenants, patients, parents, solicitors’ clients, public transport users, or simply shoppers in a supermarket. We speak up for them by communicating with the professions, industry, business, local authorities and central government, using careful research and persuasive lobbying.