City Council is a food champion

Manchester City Council has been given a prestigious award for its work improving diets within communities across the city.

The presentation was made at a parliamentary reception at the House of Commons during Food Safety Week.The Food Standards Agency (FSA) awarded Food Champion status to Manchester City Council for its work with a variety of partners and communities as part of its Food Futures Strategy.

The Food Futures Strategy embraces the whole food agenda for the city - from improving health, tackling health inequalities and reducing the environmental impact of food, to building sustainable communities and strengthening the local economy. Food Futures was seen by the panel as a real force for change in the city.

One project that helped to win the award was the establishment of a new food market in Northenden, South Manchester. Run and organised by Manchester Markets, the location was chosen because of the limited range of food for the local community. Immediately the market, selling a range of goods including fruit and vegetables, poultry and fish was a success. Since then it has become a popular feature and small local businesses near to the market have noticed their trade increase.

Manchester Fayre, Manchester City Council's Catering Service, was also highlighted for its healthy school meals service.

The council also works with Manchester Food and Drink Festival to support and promote the importance of healthy eating during the annual event.

David Statham, Director ofConsumer Protection and Enforcement Group at the FSA, said: "Winning a Food Champion Award is a major achievement and a clear recognition of the outstanding work done by local authorities in improving food safety and community diet and nutrition in their area. He added:"As a Food Champion they have demonstrated good practice and shown commitment to making the local community a better place to live. We hope that this award will inspire other local authorities and encourage the sharing of good practice."

Councillor Bernard Priest, Lead Member for Food Futures for Manchester City Council said: "This award is excellent news. These projects will help to improve our health not just in the short term but also in the long term as well. Just because we have won this award doesn't mean that our hard work stops. We will be continuing to work on a variety of projects and continuing to improve our health."

All local authorities in England and Wales were eligible to take part in the award scheme and the assessment panel, consisting of key Agency partners, were very impressed with the overall quality of the 72 entries received. The panel awarded five local authorities Food Champion status for food safety and standards and six for improving community diet and nutrition.

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