Waterfront Nursery gains Food for Life Served Here Bronze certification

Edinburgh College’s Waterfront Nursery has become the first non-local authority public sector early years setting in Scotland to secure a national certification for serving fresh, local and sustainable food.

The nursery, which is operated by the College, gained the Food for Life Served Here (FFLSH) Bronze certification, for serving food that’s good for health, the environment and the local economy. The nursery serves 34,000 meals each year.

Edinburgh College Principal Audrey Cumberford, Nursery Manager Catherine Buchanan and Chef Lukasz Szyszka received the FFLSH Bronze certificate from Food for Life Scotland’s Business Development Manager – Scotland Sue McVey during a celebration event at the nursery. Nursery pupils took part in food preparation activities, which included chopping vegetables for soup using safety knives, making scratch cooked flatbreads and tasting fresh ingredients such as strawberries and tomatoes.

The Food for Life Scotland (FFLS) programme, led by Soil Association Scotland and funded by Scottish Government since 2009, provides a framework through which local authorities and public sector sites can ensure they are serving good food. This is done by meeting a set of standards to achieve the FFLSH certification at bronze, silver or gold level.

Since 2024, Food for Life Scotland’s remit has expanded to support caterers to achieve the certification in the wider public sector. Waterfront Nursery has become the 26th Scottish public sector site to do so.  Through the process of gaining the certification, Waterfront Nursery has increased the amount of scratch cooked food on the menu.

As part of the Food for Life Served Here Bronze certification, Waterfront Nursery also ensures that a minimum of 75 percent of dishes are cooked from scratch using unprocessed ingredients. Meals are also free from undesirable trans fats, sweeteners and additives, and use free range eggs, higher welfare meat and ingredients from sustainable and ethical sources.

Catherine Buchanan, the Manager of Waterfront Nursery, said: "We are absolutely thrilled to have received this recognition from Food for Life Scotland, which highlights our dedication to providing our early learners with the absolute best quality of food possible. Ensuring our children are well-fed with fresh, local and sustainable food is just part of our approach, which always has our learners at its very heart. This award is the culmination of months of hard work from so many people at Waterfront, and we'd like to thank every single person involved in getting us to this stage."

Sarah Gowanlock, Programme Manager, Food for Life Scotland, said: “We’re thrilled to welcome Waterfront Nursery to the Food for Life Scotland programme and congratulate them on being the first non-local authority early years setting to achieve the Food for Life Served Here Bronze certification for their meals service. The early years are a crucial period for developing healthy diets. We're delighted that children at the nursery will be eating more scratch cooked and sustainable food every day. The Food for Life Scotland team can offer support to public sector caterers across Scotland, to follow in the footsteps of Waterfront Nursery and our other public sector certification holders in Scotland.”