Healthier Choices Awards Information and Guidance

Advice and Guidance

Food Hygiene 

You need a Food Hygiene Rating of 3 for the Bronze Healthier Choices award, a Rating of 4 for the Silver Healthier choices award and a Rating of 5 to apply for the Gold Healthier choices award.

By law, food business operators must ensure that food handlers receive the appropriate supervision and training in food hygiene, which is inline with the area they work in and will enable them to handle food in the safest way. 

To manage food hygiene and safety procedures in your food business, you should follow Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) principles.

The four main things to remember for good hygiene are the 4Cs: Cleaning, Cooking, Chilling and Cross-contamination. 

https://www.food.gov.uk/business-guidance/food-hygiene-for-your-business

Promotions and marketing 

Food businesses are seeing a rise in demand for healthier options and many are expanding their healthier food offerings to meet this growing interest. 
Market your status as a Healthier Choices award holder – display the Healthier Choices certificate and window sticker to attract publicity and new, health-conscious customers. 

Promote healthier options and meal deals at the top of the menu to make sure they stand out.  Make sure to inform customers of the benefits of these changes and that the taste of the food will not be compromised but enhanced! 

Display healthier food and drink choices such as bottles of water and sugar free drinks in a prominent position within eye level and easy reach. 

Make your food options healthier, for example, all meals come with a salad/vegetable side, brown bread instead of white bread, smaller portion sizes, healthier kid’s menu. 

The Healthier Choices award encourages businesses to support staff by raising awareness of simple healthy eating guidance and increasing confidence in promoting healthy options to customers. 

The Eatwell Guide shows how much of what we eat overall should come from each food group to achieve a healthy, balanced diet.  As the UK population consume a large amount of food out of the home, food businesses should be familiar with these guidelines. 

As well as the standard Eatwell Guide, there are culturally appropriate guides e.g. for South Asian, Chinese and African & Caribbean diets. 

Try to incorporate vegetables and salad into dishes as standard.  Offer wholegrain options, use reduced fat, salt and sugar items and offer free tap water refills. 

Highlight healthier options on your menu and in store – place healthier items at the top of your menu or highlight in a different colour.  Place healthier drinks and snacks at eye level, such as bottled water. 

Fruit, fibre and vegetables 

Fruit and veg are a good source of fibre, vitamins and minerals.  Eating plenty of fruit and veg helps promote digestive health and prevent against heart disease, stroke and some cancers. 
Add vegetables, pulses and lentils to as many dishes as possible – pulses and lentils are a good source of protein and a lot cheaper than meat!
Instead of deep frying, try steaming, quick (stir) frying, air frying or grilling vegetables. 

Offer wholemeal carbohydrates where possible for extra fibre – brown rice, brown pasta, brown bread and wraps. 

Offer fruit on children’s menus, dessert menus or as part of a meal deal. 

Offer a side salad as standard with main meals. 

Sugar

Consuming too much sugar can contribute excess calories, which in turn increases the risk of tooth decay, heart disease, type 2 diabetes and some cancers. 

Check the label and choose pre-made sauces and condiments that are lower in sugar.  For example, low/no sugar ketchup or brown sauce. 

Offer low calorie or no added sugar drinks as the default option instead of sugary drinks and display these at eye level in store. 

Drinks on children’s menus should be water or milk only, or no added sugar fruit juice or fruit juice that comes in a 150 ml serving (max).
Offer low sugar, fruit-based desserts as standard, such as fruit crumble, fruit and yoghurt, fruit cake or banana bread. 

Salt

Too much salt intake can lead to high blood pressure and an increased risk of stroke and heart disease. 
Gradually reduce salt and salty ingredients in cooking.  Add a little less salt each week until you can avoid it altogether. 
Choose saltshakers that have 3 holes rather than 5.  Consider removing saltshakers from tables and counters and only provide salt upon customer request. 

Check the label and choose pre-made sauces, condiments, stock cubes and gravy granules that are lower in salt.  Flavour dishes with herbs, spices and black pepper instead. 
Offer lower salt, healthier side dishes such as steamed vegetables, plain rice, bread with unsalted butter or unsalted nuts. 

Fats and frying 
Food high in fat contain lots of calories and overconsumption of high fat foods can lead to weight gain.  This could increase risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease and some cancers.  Reducing saturated fat intake can lower blood cholesterol and reduce the risk of overweight and obesity. 

Frying food 

Healthier eating is becoming increasingly more important to customers. 

To fry food in a healthier way, try the ‘bang, shake and drain’ method.  Shake the food and bang the basket a few times.  This helps reduce fat by 20% - making the food healthier, crispier and tastier.  Plus, you’ll use less oil, saving money. 

Oil maintenance 
When frying, do you look at oil maintenance and how this can be improved? 

For example, oil in dep fryers should be: 

• Regularly strained/debris skimmed after each batch/throughout service 
• Fully filtered at least weekly 
• Topped up after every session 
• Changed before it froths, foams or smokes 

Offering alternatives 

Switch to unsaturated oils for cooking such as sunflower or rapeseed oil.  Only use a small amount. 

Limit the number of fried foods on your menu – offer steamed, grilled or boiled dishes instead or consider using an air-fryer. 

Avoid frying foods more than once – this increases the fat content of the food.  Try parboiling and flash-frying if you need to pre-prepare. 

For sandwich fillings, try to use less mayonnaise and salad cream and switch to reduced fat options.  Choose reduced-fat hard cheese and thinly slice. 

If you serve hot drinks, do you offer semi or skimmed milk?

Allergens 

Clear allergen guidance is essential for businesses to ensure the safety of staff and customers. 

Display signs that encourage customers to ask staff about allergenic ingredients.  Staff should be trained to check with the chef if customers have a query about allergens. 

Check pre-packaged products and request notifications from suppliers if products contain allergens and make sure staff are aware which menu items contain allergenic ingredients. 

All staff must receive training on allergens.  The Food Standards Agency offer free food allergy training and a checklist for food businesses checklist-for-food-businesses

 

Environment 
Consumers are becoming increasingly aware of their impact on the environment and may look for this when eating out.  The tips below may even save you money.

Reduce food waste by repurposing leftover ingredients such as using leftover vegetables in soups or stews.  To reduce consumer food waste, offer smaller or ‘light bite’ portions and serve appropriately sized portions on children’s menus. 

To save money on your energy bill, use energy efficient light bulbs, only use the dishwasher when full and turn off taps when not in use. 

Promote free tap drinking water in your premises to avoid single-use plastic use. 

Make sure your staff are trained in waste minimisation, recycling and water and energy saving practices. 

Buy local produce and use sustainable packaging.