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650,000 fish-fingers labelled sustainable for school meals

'Fish & Kids', a national three-year project, is being launched today [Wednesday 24 May] in Surrey to teach children about the impacts of overfishing and increase the use of sustainably-caught fish in school lunches. Supporting the government's new minimum nutrition standards, Fish & Kids is an innovative way for schools to follow a whole school approach to food and sustainable development.

Why are we in danger of running out of fish? How does the fish we eat get onto our plates? Why is fish good for us? The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) - an international charity promoting sustainable fishing - is launching Fish & Kids to provide school children and their teachers with answers to all these questions. The project is part-funded by Defra and aims to educate the next generation about the risks of overfishing. With the support of Brakes, the UK's leading supplier to caterers, Fish & Kids will encourage schools to offer children sustainable fish bearing the MSC's independent seafood eco-label.

Fish & Kids project

Fish & Kids features a free and fun education pack and website (please visit www.fishandkids.org) that explore the threats facing the oceans and engage children in activities and games to save the seas before time runs out. The project has already seen Brakes triple its range of sustainable fish options available to school caterers. All 11 Brakes products with the MSC eco-label will meet the government's new school nutritional requirements. They will not only make school dinners healthier but will help secure our fish stocks.

Fish & Kids in Surrey

Fish & Kids has been piloted at 350 primary schools in Surrey since November 2005. Together, Surrey's schools have served their pupils over 650,000 sustainable fish-fingers from Brakes carrying the MSC eco-label in the last year. The MSC hopes to see schools all over the country follow the Surrey example and make sustainable fish a part of English school menus and cross-curricular teaching.

The official Fish & Kids launch event takes place today [Wednesday 24 May] in Cobham, Surrey at St Andrew's Primary School, where children from year 2 and 5 trialled the information pack and website.

Angela Ewing, Head Teacher, commented: "The education pack is very versatile and can be built into many different subjects. The children love the project mascot, Murdock the Fisherman's Cat, and have great fun in working with the discussion and activity sheets. Many have tried their luck with the website games and have learned a lot about the ocean and overfishing. Reaching the highest level of the games really challenges them."

Jane Penny, caterer at St Andrew's, is excited about serving the children sustainable fish for lunch. "The nutritional value of school dinners has been discussed a lot lately. With Fish & Kids we feed our children not only healthy food but make sure we have fish to serve in the future."

What the Minister of State for Climate Change and the Environment says

Ian Pearson MP, Minister of State for Climate Change and the Environment, offers his support for the project: "As well as being promising in its own right, Fish & Kids feeds into the wider debate on sustainable living. I firmly believe that we - together with partners like the MSC - can make a difference in enabling and encouraging people to live more sustainable lives. Fish & Kids shows that it is viable to move sustainable consumption into the mainstream. Congratulations - I wish MSC and its partners on Fish & Kids well in the future."

What the MSC says

Rupert Howes, Chief Executive of the MSC, says: "This project creates awareness of the fact that fish supplies are not endless and that everyone has a role to play in securing fish for the future. Millions of people depend on seafood for vital nutrition and for their livelihoods. It is therefore essential that we secure fish supplies and educate future generations of consumers about the importance of protecting the marine environment."

What Brakes says

Eileen Steinbock, Brakes' Head of Health and Nutrition, comments: "It's great to see the Fish & Kids project rolling out across England. Fish is such an important source of nutrition, particularly an excellent source of protein, for children and has always been a popular choice. Being able to provide products to schools that will not only meet nutritional requirements, but also help create greater awareness of the sustainability of fish stocks is a great achievement and once more demonstrates our commitment to providing our customers with the best possible choice."

Celebrity chef Ainsley Harriott agrees on the benefits of Fish & Kids. In a letter of support he points out that we should all try to play a role in making sure that there will be enough fish for the future.

The next stages of Fish & Kids will be the roll out at schools and family restaurants all over England.

About Fish & Kids

Fish & Kids encourages schools and family restaurants in England to promote and serve sustainable fish. Kids, teachers, parents and caterers will find out why choosing sustainable seafood is vital for the future of fish and fishing. Kids will get to know the food chain from boat to plate and will learn about responsible consumption with the help of Murdock the Fisherman's Cat. Murdock is hosting a fun-packed website and education pack for teachers. Partners in this project are sustainable development charity the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) and foodservice company Brakes. The project will increase the availability of sustainable fish to school caterers.

About minimum nutrition standards

The government's minimum nutrition standards for school food were published on 19 May 2006. Among other things, they urge schools to serve their pupils fish at least once a week. More information can be found at www.teachernet.gov.uk/wholeschool/healthyliving/.

Funding

Fish & Kids is part-funded by Defra's (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) Environmental Action Fund, which supports a range of voluntary and community sector projects across England that carry out work to promote sustainable consumption and production. The Fish & Kids website and education pack has also received additional support from the Project AWARE Foundation.

About Brakes

Brakes is the leading supplier to caterers in the UK and France, with a turnover in excess of £1.6 billion. As a responsible supplier of food, Brakes is committed to a policy of delivering product to customers in a socially responsible manner by setting its own ethical trading standards that relate both to its own operations and those of its supply chain.

In March 2003, Brakes and its specialty seafood supplier M&J Seafood became the first foodservice suppliers to carry a product certified to the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) environmental standard.

Brakes will continue to seek MSC endorsed products in a bid to offer customers the best environmental choice when making seafood purchasing decisions. 

Statements of support for Fish & Kids:

Ian Pearson MP, Minister of State for Climate Change and the Environment:
I'm pleased that MSC's "Fish & Kids" project is making such good progress. This is a project with real potential, and I congratulate the MSC and its partners for their hard work and achievements so far.

As well as being promising in its own right, "Fish & Kids" feeds into the wider debate on sustainable living. As well as food and diet issues, we need to think about, and reduce the impacts of energy and water use in our homes, how we travel, and how we use our leisure time.

This is why the Government takes very seriously the recommendations made recently by the independent Sustainable Consumption Round Table - some of which relate to sustainable fish and public sector procurement where we welcome the MSC's involvement. We're also planning a major consumer forum later this year to inform our understanding of consumer habits and ways of enabling more sustainable lifestyle choices. And Defra's Environmental Action Fund - which is helping support "Fish & Kids" - also supports 34 other projects working with communities across the country to promote more sustainable lifestyles.

It's a challenging agenda. But I firmly believe that we - together with partners like the MSC - can make a difference in enabling and encouraging people to live more sustainable lives. "Fish & Kids" shows that it is viable to move sustainable consumption into the mainstream. Congratulations - I wish MSC and its partners on "Fish and Kids" well in the future.

Ainsley Harriott, celebrity chef:
One of my favourite meals is simply grilled fresh fish - there is nothing better and I have a great respect for the fishers who bring this dish to my table. But I know that they have another important job to do - as well as catching fish, they have a responsibility to look after the wonders of the sea. I love this pack because it encourages us to try to play a  role too - in the food we buy and messages we send back to the fishers.

Your class can learn a lot about fish and fishing from this pack and the Fish & Kids website (www.fishandkids.org). This is the first time a National Curriculum pack has attempted to teach children about the environmental impacts of fishing. The activities also give children a real enthusiasm for eating fish, which is a great combination given the health benefits we're hearing so much about these days! Teach the pack to encourage your class to care about ocean dwellers and the future of fish for everyone.

You could also ask for sustainable seafood to be served in your school!

Further information

Half of the world's fish stocks are at their biological limit and another quarter are overfished or depleted (Food and Agriculture Organization). 300,000 small whales, dolphins and porpoises die each year as a result of becoming entangled in fishing gear (World Wide Fund for Nature). 21 million people are directly employed in fishing at sea and a billion people rely on fish as their primary source of protein (World Resources Institute).

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