Nursery World - Nursery Management: Nutrition

If you can't offer the cooking facilities that you want in-house, call in the caterers. Sue Learner finds out about the burgeoning food services for early years providers.

Specialist nursery catering companies can justifiably think of themselves as trailblazers when it comes to raising the standard of nursery food.

They aim to win their clients on the basis of offering tailored menus and a responsive service. In straitened times, their food has to offer value for money while being safely prepared and kept warm, and conforming to the nutritional guidelines of the Caroline Walker Trust.

At the Yum-Yum Food Company, director Abigail Simon says that in her experience there are still enormous variations in what nurseries identify as a suitable diet for young children.

'There are some nurseries who only want organic food and have herb and vegetable gardens that the children tend, and there are others I have visited that serve fried salty foods and snacks, and biscuits containing hydrogenated fats.'

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