TV presenter and farmer Adam Henson is launching a national project to enable every school child to know where the food on their plate comes from.
To be launched on Friday (11 May) at Walsall Academy school in Birmingham, the project, titled ‘Please Sir! Feed Me Truth’ aims to connect and engage the supply chains behind all school food on a child's plate.
The initiative hopes to create a generational shift in how the nation engages with and values food provenance.
Adam Henson hopes every school in the country will commit to making their food supply chain transparent, using technology to deliver into school dining rooms the journey of every plate of food.
He explained: “The appreciation and understanding of food starts with children simply knowing how and where the ingredients on their plate were produced, but they don’t. They have no idea.
“Every school dinner has a story to tell - a journey. It leaves a footprint. We need every child to explore it and be inspired and learn from it.”
The project is being operated by not for profit organisation Happerley to validate the provenance of food ingredients and empower consumers to know where their food is from.
An educational resource is being funded by Midcounties Cooperative that will provide curriculum supports, arrange field trips and school visits.
On 11th May, Co-operative Childcare, the UK’s sixth largest nursery provider, will be announcing its commitment for all their nurseries to join this project.
'Engage and inspire'
Happerley founder and farmer Matthew Rymer, said the food industry remains one of the least transparent in the UK.
“We are not told the origins of most of the ingredients in our food. Children are particularly susceptible to buying into brands and clever marketing because they do not know or understand better,” Mr Rymer explained.
“By working through the food chain to engage with and inspire them with the full story of the ingredients that make their school dinners, our hope is we can create a seismic change for the future that impacts positively on their health and nutrition, the environment and sustainable food production.”
Earlier this year, the NFU said British children have a "huge lack of knowledge" when its comes to knowing how and where their food is produced.
A survey of more than 27,500 children conducted by the British Nutrition Foundation (BNF) found that nearly a third of children believe cheese comes from plants, tomatoes grow underground and fish fingers are made of chicken.
