Three-times Olympic gold medallist Ben Ainslie will be the first person to carry the Olympic torch in the UK when it begins its 70 day journey on 19^th May. The torch will travel 8,000 miles in total, starting from Land’s End and passing through 1018 cities, towns and villages before finally reaching the Olympic Stadium on 27^th July.

VWA will be charting the progress of the Olympic torch by offering delegates 10% off all courses booked on the day that the torch is in your area. For example, if your company is based in Liverpool and you make your booking on 1^st June, you’ll receive 10% off the normal price.

If the torch is in your locality on a weekend or bank holiday, simply book online or send an email to office@vwa.co.uk to confirm your booking and get your 10% discount.

The discount applies to all food safety, nutrition, HACCP or specialist courses taking place either in-house or at our training facility in Skipton, North Yorkshire, at any time this year.

Look out for daily Tweets and updates throughout the relay period and find out when the torch is in your area by clicking here for the official London 2012 relay route, or see below.

At VWA we are pleased to be able to offer two different courses on the subject of flavours. Both are tutored by renowned flavourist Dr David Baines and applications expert Richard Seal but will appeal to delegates from different backgrounds.

Creating Savoury Flavours

This 5-day course is aimed at those who are already employed as flavourists at food manufacturing or ingredients companies and are looking to the course for expertise and guidance in new ways of formulating and evaluating savoury flavours. It is a specialist lab-based course which has a high practical content and is suitable for those responsible for developing and enhancing flavours in products such as sauces, seasonings, snack products, ready meals, soups, dairy products etc.

Creating Savoury Flavours allows flavourists to go back to basics and focus on the components and construction of a savoury flavour. They will: undertake experiments with process reaction flavours, enzyme modified flavours and topnotes; examine the interaction between the different components and study synergies and clashes; understand how a flavour functions in the final food and trace that performance back to individual components within the formula. An essential element built into this course is the emphasis on creativity and how it can be stimulated and used to give fresh impetus to the role of the flavourist.

Understanding Flavours

By contrast, Understanding Flavours is a 2-day introduction to both savoury and sweet flavours which will appeal to a wider variety of people working within the food industry. If you work with flavours but are not responsible for creating and developing them, then this course will give you an insight into how they are created and an understanding of their role. It is also suitable for junior flavourists who

Understanding flavours is also a useful introduction to those who are considering a career as a flavourist, or are just taking their first steps in the industry. It combines lectures with practical elements of the course being carried out in teams.  These practicals reveal how a flavour is built-up and gives delegates the chance to create their own flavours from scratch.

The course will also be beneficial to those responsible in the legal, marketing and labelling departments of food manufacturing and flavouring companies and people working in the catering and restaurant trade. Topics covered include flavour enhancers, alternatives to MSG, how to maintain the impact of flavours over shelf life, flavour perception, balance, flavouring substances and legislation.

For more information about each course and forthcoming dates, please click here

Edited by leading nutrition expert, Dr Verner Wheelock, this book contains 30 case studies from the UK and abroad, focusing on schools, local authorities and businesses that have successfully improved the food being served to school children.

Why was the book published?

This book is full of good ideas that really work and the aim is to inspire head teachers, governors, parents, teachers, caterers and healthy schools co-ordinators to introduce a range of Healthy Eating initiatives in their schools.

Healthy Eating in Schools – A Handbook of Practical Case Studies draws together a variety of initiatives to provide an invaluable collection of information for those who plan to implement or expand their Healthy Eating Strategies. Whether you need help with school meals, tuck shops, breakfast clubs, growing clubs, or how to involve pupils and parents in decision-making, you will find the case studies in this book useful.

What’s in the book?

Focusing on all aspects of food in schools and not just school meals, case studies include,

• Improvements in choice and quality of food
• Pupil involvement in Healthy Eating Policies
• Better behaviour of children due to the provision of breakfast
• Fruit tuck shops

There are also chapters dealing with other relevant aspects of school food including:

• Allergies
• Research on Food and Behaviour
• OFSTED and Healthy Eating
• Procurement and Local Sourcing

Reviews
“The book is entertaining, readable, and a useful, practical handbook for anyone who wants to do something about what’s on the menu in their school.”
The TES Magazine

“If any part of your job involves discussion and decisions on school meals, then reading this book will greatly enrich your ability to make a grounded contribution to the health improvement of our children.”
Network Health Dietitians Magazine

RRP £8.99

Order on Amazon or contact Alison Wheelock on 01756 700802 or email office@vwa.co.uk

An Apple A Day Won’t Keep The Hay Fever Away

Allergy UK has revealed how having five a day can cause havoc for hay fever sufferers

If pollen wasn’t making the nation miserable enough, Allergy UK has revealed that eating fruit and veg can unwittingly cause problems for some hay fever sufferers.

New consumer research^[1] from the national medical charity reveals almost 40% of hay fever sufferers also react to one or more of nuts, fruit, vegetables or spices.

Pollen from trees and plants, especially birch, causes major problems for allergy sufferers in the UK. But the protein found in certain pollens is similar to that found in some foods putting hay fever sufferers at risk from another allergic condition, oral allergy syndrome.

Lindsey McManus, Allergy UK explains: “15 years ago oral allergy syndrome was considered unusual but now it is increasingly commonplace. The condition is caused by the proteins in some fruit, nuts, vegetables and spices triggering a cross-reaction in someone with hay fever. When they eat a food that shares similar proteins as the pollen, it can cause an allergic reaction, such as, an itchy mouth, swelling or tingling of lips and tongue.”

With 15 million Brits suffering from seasonal allergic rhinitis or hay fever, the arrival of spring already signals months of misery.  But a quarter of sufferers (24%) didn’t even realise that foods could also trigger a reaction.

So while, according to the charity, 72% of those with hay fever suffer for more than two months, they could suffer from problems all year round because of a cross reaction with ‘healthy foods’. Furthermore, these foods can actually make hay fever symptoms worse.

Food allergies

Sometimes foods have to be withdrawn or recalled if there is a risk to consumers because the allergy labelling is missing or incorrect or if there is any other food allergy risk. Visit the Allergy Uk website for news of food allergy alerts.

You can also sign up to receive Allergy Alerts by email.

Verner  Wheelock Associates’ next course on Managing Food Allergens for Manufacturing can help food processors minimise the risks of allergens in their products. The next course will run in Skipton on 15 october 2012. Contact claire.lennon@vwa.co.uk or telephone 01756 700802 for further details.

With a royal wedding last year and the country gearing up for the Olympics and Queen’s Diamond Jubilee it’s a great time to celebrate being British. And food-wise what could be more British than a traditional roast beef dinner?

Aptly, Great British Beef Week kicks off on St George’s Day 23^rd April and this year it is being fiercely supported by Ladies in Beef. Before you ask, Ladies in Beef is not some kind of Lady Gaga-esque collective of women who like to wear outfits made of beef, far from it. It is an organisation of lady beef farmers on a mission to promote awareness of the quality and versatility of British beef and has a network of ‘beef champions’ across the country. The face of the Ladies in Beef campaign is none other than ‘OXO Mum’ Lynda Bellingham and Patron of the organisation is farmer and BBC Countryfile presenter Adam Henson.

During British Beef Week, consumers will be encouraged to increase their purchase of beef carrying the Red Tractor logo. This is an independent mark of quality, not only for beef, but for any type of agricultural produce. It guarantees that the food we are purchasing is derived from farms and food companies that meet high standards of food safety and hygiene, animal welfare and environmental production – something we at Verner Wheelock Associates are passionate about ourselves.The Ladies in Beef website www.ladiesinbeef.org.uk and www.greatbritishbeef.co.uk  includes several recipes and ideas as well as facts about beef – for example we all know that beef is a great source of protein and is packed with vitamins and minerals, but did you know that The type of iron found in red meat (haem iron) is more easily absorbed and used by the body than the iron in plant foods such as pulses, nuts, seeds and leafy green vegetables?

The site also offers food safety tips such as:

• Ensure that hands, equipment and surfaces are scrupulously clean before and after handling food and between handling raw and cooked foods – especially when using the barbecue.
• Check your fridge is operating at the correct temperature: between 0 and 4 degrees centigrade.
• Keep a separate hard, durable chopping board for preparing raw meats.
• Defrost frozen foods thoroughly (unless otherwise stated) and do not re-freeze once thawed.
• Make sure foods are thoroughly and evenly defrosted, and when re-heating ensure it is piping hot throughout.
• When marinating meat, cover and store in a refrigerator.
• Ensure burgers and sausages are thoroughly cooked and piping hot before serving.
• When roasting a stuffed joint remember to weigh the joint after stuffing, then calculate the cooking time.
• Food thermometers can be used to ensure internal food temperatures are sufficiently hot.

People often have a preference for the cooking of steak and roast beef – either rare, medium or well-done. Thermometers should also be used to check the temperature of roast beef before serving to ensure that the meat is a uniform temperature before serving. The correct temperatures are Rare: 60°C, Medium: 70°C, Well-done: 80°C.

Additionally, since we’re approaching the barbecue season, to guard against food poisoning it is essential that meat items such as burgers and sausages are cooked all the way through. Whereas a steak is a primary cut of beef, the extra processing that is involved in manufacturing, burgers, sausages and similar products mean that there is the potential for contaminants to enter the product, so cooking the product until the juices run clear will kill any potential pathogens.

We run a number of Food Safety courses, from basic to advanced level, which have been attended by a wide range of food manufacturers and processors, caterers and butchers. For more information about any of our courses, including our e-learning courses, please see the main website www.vwa.co.uk

The economic recession certainly doesn’t appear to have affected Britain’s coffee shops, which are continuing to expand at a rate of knots. From small independent cafes to the big names like Starbucks, Costa, Pret a Manger and Cafe Nero, they’re breeding like rabbits! It seems we Brits can’t get enough espressos, lattes, macchiatos, cappuccinos, americanos  or even the plain old instant stuff out of a jar. So it’s no surprise that, according to statistics, the UK coffee sector has grown by 6% in the past 12 months alone, representing an estimated sales value of £5.4 billion.

What better time, then, to capitalise on this craving for caffeine and draw attention to the plight of the hardworking people harvesting the beans? Whilst we think nothing of turning on the tap and sticking the kettle on for a brew, almost half the population of Tanzania (46%) don’t have access to a clean source of water. In the past year approximately 20,000 children from the area died because the water they drank was unsafe and they were living in insanitary conditions.

This week (23^rd – 29^th April) is UK Coffee Week (www.ukcoffeeweek.com ).  Dubbed “The Nation’s biggest celebration of coffee” it is being supported by thousands of companies, not just the well-known coffee chains, but also smaller cafes, canteens and workplaces. The aim of the campaign is to raise money for Project Waterfall, a charitable initiative delivering clean water projects in African coffee-producing countries, such as Tanzania. Customers at participating outlets selling coffee are being encouraged to add a voluntary 5 pence to the cost of their purchase – the equivalent of providing clean water to one person for a single day. Workplaces providing coffee are asking employees to make a donation every time they have a cuppa.

It’s great cause, so let’s support it! If we can afford upwards of £2 for a coffee, we can certainly afford an extra five pence.

VWA’s inaugural Understanding Flavours course took place last week at Craven College, Skipton, North Yorkshire. ‘Understanding Flavours’ is aimed at giving an introduction to both savoury and sweet flavours, their composition and role to those involved in the development, manufacture and marketing of food as well as trainee flavourists.

At the helm were seasoned flavourists (sorry, couldn’t resist that one!) Dr David Baines and Richard Seal, tutors of our extremely popular ‘Creating Savoury Flavours’ course which regularly attracts professional flavourists from around the globe. Delegates for this course were from Germany, Ireland, New Zealand and the UK and included trainee flavourists and technicians from Pepsico, Silesia Aroma and from Lionel Hitchen (Essential Oils) – and Jodie, our most recent recruit to the VWA office, who was keen to find out about flavouring wizardry.

Here’s her report :

The course began with an introduction to taste and flavours from course tutors Dr David Baines and Richard Seal. The delegates then completed a series of practical exercises and lectures ranging from learning the basics of flavours to creating their own savoury snack seasoning.

Day One

Day One focused on how to build from the basic flavours and what flavour is all about, as well as looking at nature’s flavours. The delegates got to use their senses within the practicals, tasting flavoured soups to evaluate essential oils, oleoresins and other ingredients.  The main practical of the day was creating their own snack seasoning in teams (named Team Chicken and Team Beef!). Following a lecture on ‘The Flavour Pyramid’ (Basic tastes at the top, through sensations, textures, aromas, appearance and emotions at the base) the teams were tasked with creating their own chicken and herb flavouring or beef flavouring.  The knowledge they had gained from the lecture enabled them to identify the different stages when creating their own seasoning.

After a great day of creating understanding of what flavour is all about,  VWA organised a tour of a local brewery –  The Copper Dragon Brewery in Skipton.

Day Two

On Day Two the course covered cheese and dairy flavours and how these can be modified with enzymes to change the flavours. The delegates then tasted the different cheeses that had been modified with a range of enzyme profiles and discussed the different flavours created in comparison with the original cream cheese.

The delegates then discussed alternatives to MSG and new developments in flavour technology such as salt replacers, as there is no substitute for sodium chloride. The discussion then turned to alternative sweeteners.

In the afternoon of Day Two the delegates were given a lecture on top note flavours and flavouring substances. as they would be then creating their own top note fruit flavour which was raspberry. This was also done in teams. Within this lecture our chemical senses were examined: Gustation (sweet, sour, bitter, salty and umami), Olfaction(complex interactions with thousands of volatile chemicals creating flavour) and Trigeminal effects (heat, Astringency, cooling and pungency.

After the lecture the delegates started creating their own raspberry top notes. Five different raspberry blends were required. The teams then had to select which one would be best used with a fizzy drink and a jelly. They were given a selection of 10 chemicals to create the best blends, which were then tasted in sugar water.

Overall

This course gave the delegates a great understanding of flavours through lectures and practical exercises where they could put their new knowledge into practice, discuss the industry with each other, question the tutors and relate it to their own work.

For more information about VWA’s forthcoming flavourings courses, including our 5-day Creating Savoury Flavours course, please click here.

Craven District, our local council, is one of the many local authorities across England, Wales and Northern Ireland supporting the Food Standards Agency’s new Food Hygiene Rating Scheme (FHRS) and we went along to the launch event last week in Skipton.

Around 50 Skipton food businesses which had been awarded 5 stars were invited to the event to collect their certificates, and we were pleased to see several of our favourite eateries present including The Aagrah, Robert Walker Artisan Bakery, and Bella Napoli in Crosshills to name just a few. We were also pleased to hear that Utopia, the on-site restaurant at Broughton Hall, has also acheived a maximum score of 5.

Just to give a brief overview, FHRS is a scheme whereby premises preparing or serving food are inspected by a local authority food safety officer and given a hygiene rating based on the results of that visit.

Inspections are based around:

• how hygienically the food is handled – how it is prepared, cooked, re-heated, cooled and stored
• the condition of the structure of the buildings – the cleanliness, layout, lighting, ventilation and other facilities
• how the business manages and records what it does to make sure food is safe

The rating does not reflect the quality of food or the standard of service provided to customers.

What type of businesses are included in the scheme?

Most food businesses that supply food directly to the consumer are included in the scheme including restaurants, shops, cafes, takeaways, delicatessens, care homes, hotels and pubs.

Ratings range from 0 (urgent improvement necessary) to 5 (very good) and reflect how closely that premises is meeting the requirements of food hygiene law. Following a visit from an assessor, the business will be issued with a certificate and window sticker showing their rating, which they are encouraged to display in a prominent position.

The FSA scheme is not a new phenomenon, 102 local authorities, including neighbouring Bradford Council, already participate in a similar scheme called ‘Scores on the Doors’. This is now being phased out in favour of the national FSA scheme. Businesses in Scotland have a slightly different scheme called the Food Hygiene Information Scheme. This is also run in partnership with the FSA, but rather than a rating of 0 to 5, premises are given a ‘Pass’ or ‘Improvement Required.’

How to view the ratings online

As a training company specialising in Food Safety, we are naturally delighted that restaurants, cafes, takeaways, pubs, hotels and even some supermarkets and food retailers are embracing the scheme.  Consumers want to be sure that the food they buy is safe to eat and has been stored and prepared in an appropriate manner. In order to find out how a local business scores in the hygiene stakes, people can visit the FSA ratings website, where the results are loaded onto a database.

Obviously it is in an outlet’s interests to achieve a rating of 4 or 5, since consumers will view their business in a more favourable manner than a business with a lower score. However the scheme is voluntary at present and food businesses do not have to display their rating at the premises. They will be available to view online so it’s possible that only those businesses that are confident in their approach to food safety will get involved.

However any scheme that allows the public greater choice in their selection of venue based on the safety of the food served gets the thumbs up from us.

If you would like to ensure that your company is well prepared for an inspection, we offer a wide variety of food safety and hygiene courses, from level 2 to Advanced (level 4). Click here for more details. The minimum accepted level of training for those preparing or serving food to the public is the Level 2 Food Hygiene, which is available online from just £15 per person.

For more information and downloads relating to the scheme from Craven District Council click here

You’ve heard of Curry Week, Food Safety Fortnight and British Sausage Week. Well this week is the preserve of pork lovers everywhere – it’s Bacon Connoisseurs Week!

There’s an old saying that the only part of a pig that you can’t eat is the grunt and that’s not far from the truth. There’s more to a pig than roasts, pork chops, bacon chops, gammon, sausages and bacon rashers  – even the ears, head and trotters can be eaten.

There is much debate at the moment about how much red meat we should eat daily and whether it is harmful or good for our health. Average intakes of red meat in this country are below current Government guidelines of 70g cooked meat per day and as such suggest that, for most people, red meat is safe and consumption does not need to be reduced.  Lean pork is high in protein, vitamins and minerals – particularly iron, zinc and vitamin D – and can be as low as 4% fat. It is a very versatile meat and can be made into a variety of nutritious and tasty meals as part of a balanced diet.

Few can resist the smell of a bacon butty, in fact as a nation we purchase 221.6K tonnes of bacon per year at a cost of £1.3 billion. But as consumers, retailers and caterers, we should be striving to eat or supply bacon or pork products which are assured. LovePork.co.uk, the BPEX website behind Bacon Connoisseurs Week, is keen to encourage people to buy pork products bearing the Red Tractor logo. This guarantees meat of a high quality and assures high standards of food safety, animal welfare and environmental protection.

Brits are renowned for being a nation of animal lovers and thankfully in the UK the use of restrictive sow stalls on pig farms is prohibited. That’s why the Red Tractor logo is so important, not just from an ethical point of view, but also from a food safety perspective. Whenever you see the Red Tractor logo on packaging it means that:

• Rigorous standards are observed throughout the supply chain
• At all stages the quality of pig husbandry and animal welfare is high
• Every aspect of the pork meat production process is fully traceable
• Red Tractor pig farms are inspected at least four times a year
• The flag in the Red Tractor pork logo guarantees its country of origin

As Love Pork says, ‘Great Bacon starts with Great Pork’ and that means ethical, hygienic and safe production of a Great British staple.

For more information about Bacon Connoisseurs Week, bacon facts and recipes click here.

For details of VWA’s ethical audit, nutrition and food safety courses, please click here.

Having the correct nutrition can make a significant difference to a person’s wellbeing. Several studies have shown that the correct diet, suitable hydration and light exercise amongst the elderly can make them feel more alert, reduce the number of infections and colds, aid digestion and reduce the need for laxatives. In some cases care home residents have even reported improved sleep patterns and better balance.

As we get older our nutritional needs change. Elderly people living in care homes or hospitals have differing nutritional requirements from teenagers, young adults and those who are middle-aged. Because many have a fairly sedentary lifestyle, they are unlikely to require as many calories as, say, a fifteen year-old yet within those calories they must receive the correct nutrients, minerals and balance of protein, carbohydrate and fat.

Add to this the fact that elderly patients may suffer from ailments such as osteoporosis, diabetes, high or low blood pressure or various allergies and it becomes evident that providing the correct food to meet individual nutritional needs is a necessity.

At VWA we have long been advocating tailored nutrition for healthier bodies and have trained a number of healthcare professionals working with older people. Now the subject of nutrition in the elderly is finally being taken seriously by the Government. PM David Cameron has recently launched the Nursing and Care Quality Forum; the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has recently released findings from its Dignity and Nutrition Inspection (DANI) and the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence has developed social care quality standards for patients in NHS care.

In addition, a seminar entitled “Elderly nutrition and dignity in hospitals and social care: quality standards, engagement and compassion” is to be held in London on 14^th June. Speakers are to include Dame Jo Williams, chair of the CQC; Dianne Jeffrey, chairman of Age UK and Sir Keith Pearson, chair of the NHS Confederation and the Partnership on Dignity in Care.

Recent updates to the Care Quality Commission Guidelines now state that there should be a recognised leader within care facilities who understands the nutritional requirements of the residents. They should ensure that the residents receive balanced meals, taking into account their medical, dietary and hydration requirements.

In order to satisfy this requirement, the designated leader needs to undertake specialist nutrition training. However, this doesn’t mean a year at night school or hours of study. Those now charged with responsibility for nutrition can learn all they need to know in just 3 days on our RSPH Level 3 Course in Healthier Food and Special Diets.

This course equips candidates with all the information they need to make knowledgeable changes to diets and menu plans for specific nutritional requirements. It includes factors affecting food intake and choice; the sources and functions of nutrients; energy needs and the identification of energy sources; the nutritional requirements of specific groups; the importance of a balanced diet; the effect of diet on health; the development of food related illnesses and the promotion of healthy eating.

On the course you will learn that many older people are deficient in Vitamin C, Folic Acid, Vitamin D, Iron and Calcium, which can lead to problems such as wounds taking longer to heal, osteoporosis, anaemia, stiffness in muscles, depression and general lethargy. So to help combat these deficiencies you should be offering a choice of yellow and orange fruit and vegetables, green leafy vegetables, oily fish, pulses, red meat, liver, wholemeal bread, eggs, dairy products and fortified cereals.

You may already be aware that the best source of Vitamin D is sunlight. But did you also know that Vitamin D is crucial for calcium absorption?  So, even if your elderly clients or patients are taking a calcium supplement, without the necessary amount of Vitamin D in the body, it will be useless.

Knowing which foods to serve to elderly people in your care and devising specific meal plans for them is essential if they are to remain in good health or recover more speedily from an illness. However this is only part of the job. The other concerns preparing food that is attractive to eat, offering a choice of foods and giving clients adequate time to complete their meals – assisting them where necessary. A variety of textures, colours and flavours will always go down well, but even in instances where food has to be pureed, using moulds (e.g. a fish shape) so that food is more attractive and recognisable is a good tactic.

Finally, it’s a well-known fact that frail older people are particularly vulnerable to the effects of food poisoning, so not only should the food offered be nutritious, it should also be prepared in a safe manner. Larger establishments should have a HACCP plan in place, but at the bare minimum, those involved in the production of meals should have a certificate in food hygiene.