Why are we funded by industry?
PhunkyFoods is, and always will be, an independent healthy lifestyles programme developed and written by registered nutritionists and consultant teachers. However the 2004 Government White Paper “Choosing Health” stated that the current obesity epidemic is the joint responsibility of government, food industry, schools and parents. At PhunkyFoods we understand the serious issues schools face regarding lack of funding, and we know that if we can approach the food industry to help with the research and development of the PhunkyFoods programme as part of their response to the obesity epidemic, then we can significantly lower the cost of our programme to schools.
We believe in offering schools a sustainable solution to delivering credible and reliable healthy eating and physical activity messages to children in the classroom. In order to achieve this in a cost-effective manner for schools we approach companies to subsidise the cost of the programme via their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) budgets.
Through substantially subsidising the programme with industry CSR budgets we can;
- Lower the costs of the programme to schools from £1440 per year to just £250 per year (based on a 5-year sign up)
- Invest in the future development of the curriculum, teacher training and resources in-line with current findings from school surveys
- Invest in vital research to evaluate the impact of the PhunkyFoods programme on children’s health behaviours and outcomes
If we achieve our goal of a food industry consortium this gives PhunkyFoods a powerful voice to help us lobby government on behalf of schools to kick-start additional funding streams for schools which they can utilise to invest in vital healthy lifestyles programmes.
Some may consider there is a conflict of interest with the food industry sponsoring a healthy eating programme in schools but this is not the case. This is not an opportunity for the sponsors to promote foods to children. It is in the best interests of the food industry that their consumers can make informed food choices, eat balanced diets and have long and healthy lives. For this reason we have produced this document to help provide an open and transparent relationship between our partners in the food industry and the schools with which we work.
- The content of the PhunkyFoods programme is wholly independent, written and developed by independent registered nutritionists and consultant teachers.
- Our food industry partners have no input into the content of our curriculum.
- Company logos are not used on material accessed by school children and no advertising to children is permitted.
Our partners:
Northern Foods – supporting healthy eating
Northern Foods, one of the UK’s leading food producers, was the first company to support Phunky Foods, providing substantial seed-corn funding for research and development of the programme under our core commitment to ‘healthy balanced lifestyles’.
Northern Foods backed a comprehensive two year pilot of Phunky Foods in over 100 schools in Yorkshire because we believe the programme addresses fundamental concerns about the quality of young children’s food and health knowledge, and has the potential to bring critical healthy eating messages into every primary school classroom in Britain.
Helping to educate on the importance of ‘Healthy Balanced Lifestyles’ reflects Northern Foods’ responsibilities to the consumer and addresses the challenge to the food industry set down in the 2004 White Paper, ‘Choosing Health’.
We are confident that such grass roots engagement in the issue of healthier lifestyles, particularly for young people, will also show the way forward for the long term development of Britain’s food industry, with what we learn shaping the future and ultimately determining our success as food manufacturing businesses.
Cargill
Cargill is a leading global food and agricultural company with a significant presence in the UK agricultural and food supply chain. The Company has a strong citizenship commitment to supporting the local communities wherever it has business operations in the fields of food, health and nutrition, education and the environment. Helping to connect young people with hands on experience of food from “farm to fork” and educate them on its healthiness, safety and quality throughout the agricultural supply chain is a key aspect of Cargill’s responsibility as a vital link from the producer to the consumer.
With this strong connection to our core business expertise, this programme offers us the chance to make a real contribution at a grassroots level across the UK and helps schools provide real and tangible solutions to the long term nutrition and well being of future generations.
Nestlé – Good Food, Good Life
Nestlé is the world’s largest food and beverage manufacturer with a vision of becoming the world’s leader in nutrition, health and wellness. With 140 years of food and nutrition research, we are committed to helping our consumers make healthy lifestyle choices.
It is important that we help people make healthier choices – by constantly improving the nutritional content of our products, and by supporting improved education about healthy eating.
Over recent years we have reduced the levels of salt, fat, sugar and saturates in our products. We have introduced natural colours where we can and removed or reduced trans fats to very low levels. New labelling on our products helps consumers to understand what is inside their foods at a glance, and enables them to make balanced food choices.
Supporting the PhunkyFoods programme to help it extend across the UK will enable many more children to understand the benefits of a healthy, balanced lifestyle.