Chef to host healthy eating awards aimed at businesses

TOP chef and author Prue Leith is to host the inaugural ‘YES!’ healthy eating awards in Dean Clough, Halifax, on Monday.

Unlike other schemes which usually target individuals, The ‘YES!’ – You’re Eating Sensibly – Campaign has been devised especially for food businesses that want to offer healthier food. This could be any food outlet from a one-man business through to the council-run restaurants, a canteen or local cafe.

Ms Leith will be rewarding dozens of Halifax businesses which have all taken part in and successfully completed the ‘YES!’ Campaign to encourage the town’s food businesses to adopt healthier choices for customers.

Funded by the Primary Care Trust as part of the Halifax Healthy Town initiative, the programme launched this summer offering a formal accreditation scheme for food businesses with three-star minimum hygiene rating.

‘YES!’ gave two days of free specialist training at the award-winning Cooking School at Dean Clough where participants learnt how to adapt some of their dishes or learned to make new healthy recipes.

The practical element of the course was supported by follow-up consultations and a full award ceremony with accreditation for each successful participant.

There are well over 30 businesses across Halifax which can now display the ‘YES!’ certificates in their premises and ‘YES!’ endorsed menu.

As part of this pilot, ‘YES!’ was initially open to food businesses in the Halifax wards of Town, Park, Ovenden, Illingworth and Mixenden, some of the most deprived areas in West Yorkshire where diet and unhealthy eating issues have attracted Government attention and funding.

Anita Cormac, executive director of The Cooking School at Dean Clough, said: “We’re delighted that Prue has taken time out of her busy diary to come and meet the businesses taking part in the successful ‘YES!’ Campaign and supporting their hard work.

“We have seen some amazing progress across the course with real passion and enthusiasm being shown by the people taking part.”

Ms Leith will attend the awards ceremony being held in the Crossley Gallery at Dean Clough at 6.30pm.