Using technology to plan nutritionally compliant school meals
West Lothian Council implemented Nutmeg nutritional analysis software over 17 years ago to analyse all school meal menus. Since then, the council has used the software to plan menus and demonstrate compliance with evolving nutrition regulations across schools in West Lothian.
A vital tool for West Lothian Council menu planning
Nutmeg nutritional analysis software has enabled the council to comply with changing policies and implement nutritious menus across its schools despite multiple changes to school food regulations.
"Nutmeg is a vital tool for menu planning across all schools in West Lothian. With evolving food standards, Nutmeg enables council staff to plan healthy menus in line with government nutrition guidelines while allowing us to cater to specific allergens and dietary requirements easily.
Nutmeg updates the system whenever school food guidelines change, ensuring recipes and menus comply with the new rules." - Jamie Fisher, Facilities and Support Services Manager at West Lothian Council.
One of Nutmeg’s key features utilised by West Lothian Council is the Nutritional Analysis function to maintain strict food standards. Nutritional Analysis provides an overview of the dietary components of menus created, e.g., carbohydrates, fibre and vitamin C, highlighting whether the menus meet the nutrition guidelines for each nutrient. West Lothian Council use this function to analyse daily and weekly menus.
With school menus the same across each primary school, West Lothian Council uses Nutmeg during the planning process to comply with The Food Act, ensuring menus meet the standards and making the necessary adjustments when needed.
Whenever the school food regulations legislation changes, Nutmeg automatically updates to reflect this. This functionality proved helpful with the recent changes to the Scottish School Food Standards, with new measures implemented to improve the quality of food served in Scottish schools and limit processed foods served. Nutmeg updated the required guidelines when the new rules came into effect, ensuring that West Lothian Council schools remained compliant despite significant changes to menu requirements.
Using Nutmeg during menu planning enables the council to comply with nutritional legislation and save time manually checking compliance, eliminating the risk of food served falling short of strict guidelines.
Demonstrating compliance with school food standards
As school food standards evolve and adapt, schools can fall short of achieving standards without a nutritional analysis program that evolves with the changing regulations. For West Lothian Council, the Graphs and Food Standards button has proved crucial in demonstrating compliance with nutrition regulations.
West Lothian Council uses Nutmeg to compare weekly menus with a bar chart that displays nutritional standards and a comparison chart for the School Food Standards from government legislation.
Council staff use the nutritional bar chart to see which meals meet legislation. Green highlights compliance, yellow indicates a pass, and red indicates a failure to meet compliance. Council staff can replace recipes that fail to meet government guidance with a menu that meets the legislation.
With 68 primary schools in West Lothian Council, Nutmeg ensures menus meet food regulations across multiple sites, with all information available in one place. Council staff do not need to check compliance for each school manually. The Nutmeg School Food Standards function offers a descriptive table with information, e.g., how much fibre the bread should contain and how many vegetables to serve per week.
Catering to pupil dietary requirements
Catering to dietary requirements is no longer optional, whether in a school, restaurant, or private setting. Determining pupils' nutritional needs is crucial when planning menus across many schools.
"Nutmeg helps with special diets when planning menus, e.g., the carbohydrate count for pupils with diabetes." - Gary Borthwick, FM Area Manager at West Lothian Council.
West Lothian Council uses Nutmeg to search for recipes to add to the menus. Within this search, council staff can search for recipes that cater to specific diets, e.g., vegan, vegetarian, Halal and Kosher, and look at specific macronutrients and micronutrients to ensure that meals are suitable for pupils with health conditions, such as diabetes.
All schools now offer vegetarian lunch options, and some provide vegan choices for every meal. Nutmeg makes it simple to meet multiple dietary requirements in just a few clicks.
Safeguarding pupils with allergies
With thousands of pupils in multiple schools across West Lothian, safeguarding pupils with allergens is critical. Failing to cater to allergy requirements can result in potentially life-threatening results.
For 17+ years, Nutmeg has been vital for West Lothian Council in accessing allergen information for menu planning and implementation. Council staff can see all the allergen information on the menu for each recipe and ensure allergens, such as gluten, dairy, and nuts, are excluded where needed.
Nutmeg brings any allergen information to the labelling feature to communicate these allergens to catering staff and pupils when browsing food items. This enables staff to print labels for packaged foods and highlights clear allergens present.
Natasha's Law was introduced in October 2021 and required all food outlets, including schools, to provide complete ingredient lists with clear allergen labelling on pre-packaged food for direct sale. Nutmeg has enabled West Lothian Council to comply with these rules and offer full visibility of allergens in packaged food served in its schools.
The future of Nutmeg for West Lothian Council
CRB Cunninghams recently announced its acquisition of Nutmeg software, and existing Nutmeg customers, like West Lothian Council, can reap significant benefits from the procurement. CRB Cunninghams offers a fully integrated suite of solutions, including cashless catering, online payments, identity management, and now Nutmeg nutritional analysis software.
Offering cashless functionality and nutritional analysis in one system is vital for West Lothian Council. As existing CRB Cunninghams customers who utilise our cashless solutions amongst its schools, including the Fusion Online pre-order app, the council has stated the importance of Nutmeg integrating with their cashless system.
“This integration would allow us to analyse meal uptake to link with nutrition analysis, rather than inputting the information manually.” - Gary Borthwick, West Lothian Council.
Integrating Nutmeg with cashless school systems would mean all the recipe information directly from the Nutmeg system, such as allergens, micronutrients and dietary requirements, goes straight into the cashless system. This integration means West Lothian Council can eliminate the need for staff to repeat information and highlight meal uptake across the entire council.
