PR 1150
COELIAC AWARENESS ON THE MENU
The children at St Peter's Catholic Primary School in Winchester are to enjoy a special wheat and gluten free lunchtime menu on 20 May to mark Coeliac Awareness Day.
Hampshire County Council's school meal provider, HC3S, teamed up with the Coeliac Society to provide a menu suitable for those who require gluten and wheat free diets. It includes tasty treats such as organic burgers in special wheat and gluten free bread buns, salad, jacket wedges, banoffee pudding and a chocolate wafer. The aim is to show the children that many items we already serve are wheat and gluten free.
Coeliac Awareness Day happens on 20 May every year and aims to promote the rights of Coeliac and Dermatitis Herpetiformis sufferers. The Coeliac Society is campaigning for more gluten and wheat free meals to be available on menus and for products to be labelled more clearly.
HC3S already provides special menus to meet any individual dietary requirements the children may have. It currently has over 650 special diets registered, 55 of which are gluten and wheat free.
Leader of Hampshire County Council, Councillor Ken Thornber, said: "HC3S takes children's health very seriously, that is why it not only provides nutritionally balanced meals for all the pupils it serves, but adapts and creates new menus to meet the needs of those children with special dietary requirements.
"It has also started a number of initiatives to better the Government's Nutritional standard on school meals and achieve the Caroline Walker Trust standard on nutrient content, such as removing additives and reducing the amount of processed food from the menu."
ENDS
For further information please contact: Kirsty Gunner on 01962 847110
19/05/2004