Taste it! Don’t Waste it! BBQ and Baste it!
West Dunbartonshire Council were actively involved in promoting Food Safety through a number of attention grabbing activities and events. A high profile advertising campaign was launched throughout West Dunbartonshire using different types of media to highlight the aims of “Germwatch”, a campaign designed to raise awareness of the 4 C’s; Cleaning, Cooking, Chilling and avoiding Cross-contamination.
Environmental Health team set up a stall based at the Clyde Shopping Centre in which participants in a food safety quiz were entered into a free prize draw in which they could win a brand new barbeque.
Further food for thought was actively encouraged by leading Scottish chefs including Nick Nairn, Tom Kitchin, Lady Claire Macdonald and Martin Wishart. They gave their backing to "Love Food Hate Waste" which is a nation-wide initiative developed by Waste Aware Scotland to encourage the Scottish public to be more waste aware in its attitude to food.
The campaign focuses on four key areas to help reduce food waste – planning and preparation, storing food, recipe ideas and portioning. The Love Food Hate Waste website offers a collection of hints, tips, recipes and advice from Scotland’s best loved chefs and food writers.
Dr Nicki Souter from LOVE FOOD HATE WASTE commented: “We’re encouraging people, where practical, to think about buying seasonally and to see what’s available on their doorstep. This is just one of the ways we can help reduce food waste.
Dr Souter continues: “It’s a staggering thought that the average Scottish household throws away £410 per year on food that could have been eaten, simply because we forget to use it or cook too much.
Love Food Hate Waste offers simple and practical advice on how to make the most of the food that you buy and avoid food waste. Most people have a great hint, tip or recipe idea to reduce food waste and we would love them to share their ideas on our website.”
Recent research* has revealed that in Scotland householders throw away around one third of food bought, essentially throwing away one bag of shopping in every three. Most of this food could have been eaten with a little more planning and better storage. Less than one fifth of food waste is truly unavoidable.
The campaign highlights one of the top ten tips for waste prevention which was part of West Dunbartonshire Councils Waste Prevention initiative in late spring and shows that farmers markets, for example, offer the perfect opportunity to buy fresh, seasonal food from your local area and support local Scottish producers.
