As part of the Nutrition Strategy for Gateshead, a NUTRITION AGREEMENT has been developed with key partners in relation to good practice in nutrition education and directly commissioned nutrition work. The aim of this is to have a consistent and joined up approach to all nutrition/healthy eating work that takes place in Gateshead, as part of a local area agreement. A key aim of the strategy is to promote consistent nutrition messages on healthy choices for adults and children. Nutrition education encompasses key healthy eating messages, local information about services and programmes, cooking skills, addressing the barriers to healthier food consumption such as attitudes, awareness, access and availability. In addition a supporting document stating the current key messages for nutrition has been produced.
The agreement has been made specific to commissioning independent agencies, and the CHECKLIST (appendix 1) is almost a good practice guide for individuals, groups or organisations such as schools that may invite in guest speakers or external agencies. The KEY MESSAGES LEAFLET (appendix 2) for professionals forms an appendix to both the agreement and checklist.
Please note an important piece on Salt in Food that was missed from the Key Messages leaflet:
Avoid foods such as roasted peanuts, crisps, canned soups and ready meals as these tend to contain lots of salt. The recommended salt intake for adults is less than 6g a day. 6g is equivalent to one level teaspoon of salt.