New FFLSH standards will benefit public procurement in Scotland

After a thorough process of consultation and expert review, the Soil Association published refreshed standards for the Food for Life Served Here (FFLSH) Bronze certification in March 2025.

The new standards maintain the relevance and show the impact of the certification for caterers who are working hard to deliver good food for the climate, nature and health.

The FFLSH certification is a powerful mechanism to deliver good food through public procurement and in the public sector. In Scotland, this is delivered through the Scottish Government-funded Food for Life Scotland programme, which is now working with more than half of Scottish local authorities to get more fresh, local and sustainable produce into school canteens.

Over the last couple of years, the programme has expanded into the wider public sector, to cover other settings such as government buildings, courts, care homes, colleges and universities, and tourist attractions.

This investment in public procurement can address multiple policy challenges at once, supporting farmers and investing in local economic growth by getting more Scottish food on the table, improving dietary health with fresh ingredients and protecting the environment by championing sustainable production.

Through the refreshed FFLSH Bronze standards, caterers will be serving food that addresses these policy challenges and contributes to the Good Food Nation ambition.

More food cooked from scratch

The updated standard 1.2 – at least 75% of dishes are cooked from scratch – includes the introduction of a categorisation of permitted foods to reduce Ultra-Processed Foods (UPFs) on menus.

The categories are ‘unprocessed or minimally processed food’ – e.g. frozen peas, ‘permitted convenience products’ – e.g. stock cubes, and ‘highly processed products’ – e.g. pre-breaded fish and cake mixes.

There is now a compelling body of evidence linking diets high in UPFs with ill health, including obesity, diabetes, heart disease and cancer.

More than half of the average UK shopping basket is made up of UPFs, and British children have the highest levels of ultra-processed food consumption in Europe.

Soil Association Scotland believes national dietary guidance should encourage consumers to reduce their consumption of UPFs and eat more minimally processed and natural food.

The FFLSH certification champions skilled catering teams that cook from scratch and maximise the use of unprocessed ingredients. Preparing a dish from scratch allows caterers more control on what goes into it.

It is a long-term aspiration of Food for Life Served Here to minimise the inclusion of highly processed foods on menus – and caterers will work towards this through the refreshed standards.

More vegetables and pulses

As a result of these changes, caterers will be serving less but better meat. The new Standard 1.3 asks caterers to prioritise serving more vegetables, pulses and vegetarian meals, in addition to meat options.

Increasing portions of vegetables and pulses and focusing on high quality, high welfare meat will help to limit the impact on climate, biodiversity and human health, while also helping caterers meet NHS recommendations that a healthy balanced diet should include plenty of vegetables and fruit, wholegrains, nuts and seeds, and pulses and lentils.

Soil Association Scotland is keen to see public procurement used as a lever to get more Scottish produce into public sector kitchens. This approach can also help to drive up the quantities of organic ingredients from Scottish producers and processors.

Increasing the amount of Scottish grown produce in the public sector requires point of origin data to track spend on ingredients. We continue to push for this to happen alongside other measures to increase opportunities for procurement of more local food.

Reducing food waste

The new standard 1.11 requires caterers to have food waste reduction strategies in place. Reducing food waste is an urgent priority for climate change and food security.

Scottish Government has a target to reduce food waste by 33% by 2025, which was included in the Good Food Nation draft National Plan.

The inclusion of reducing food waste in the FFLSH bronze certification standards will support caterers across Scotland’s public sector to work towards the Scottish Government’s food waste reduction goal, which in turn will have a positive impact in how the nation addresses climate change.

FFLSH will help make Scotland a Good Food Nation

The Food for Life Served Here certification is currently included in the Good Food Nation draft National Plan as an indicator of success, under a number of outcomes. And, Soil Association Scotland eagerly awaits the finalised plan being brought to parliament soon.

The refreshed standards only strengthen the impact of the certification to support Scotland’s public sector caterers to serve good food that will make a real difference for climate, nature and health – as well as supporting our economy by putting more Scottish food on the table through the power of public procurement.

With the next Scottish Parliament elections on the horizon next year, the FFLSH certification is already working hard to boost local sourcing, to support caterers to serve more sustainable Scottish produce, and to reduce food waste and the amount of ultra processed foods on the public plate.