Question

To ask the right hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington, representing the House of Commons Commission, what steps the Commission is taking to reduce the amount of food waste produced by the kitchens on the parliamentary estate.

The House of Commons has implemented a variety of initiatives to reduce the amount of food waste. The only food which is disposed of consists of products that are not safe to be consumed, following guidance from, for example, the Catering Services’ Food Safety Policy and in relation to use-by dates.

Measures taken to monitor and reduce food waste from our catering venues includes:

• Menu plans and cycles are used which enables orders to be planned in advance;

• Most dishes are made fresh in-house, which allows for improvisation if products need to be used up, and enables short life products to be used in smoothies, soups and salads;

• Stock is regularly counted, and order volumes consider the level of stock-in-hand;

• Dates are checked regularly on ambient food products and any short life products are issued to the kitchens for immediate use;

• Many of the high-volume protein items are ordered by unit (rather than weight) which makes portion control more accurate and reduces the likelihood of over ordering;

• Venue orders are checked by a purchasing team for accuracy, to ensure that orders and volumes are correct and in-line with historic figures;

• The kitchens make salad items in-house, meaning venues can cook-off and utilise any surplus protein products effectively;

• Stock is always rotated using ‘first-in, first-out’ principles;

• Various smart storage methods and materials are used to help prevent premature spoilage;

• Some products are frozen if not used on the day;

• Products which show high levels of wastage are changed (for example, some high frequency/low volume lines are now frozen which enables portion control);

• Any hot food which is re-usable is transferred immediately to where it can be sold (or blast chilled within food safety requirements and used the following day).
  

The Sustainable Restaurant Association has rated the House of Commons as a good practice organisation in respect of food waste.