The latest government dietary guidelines suggest that we should be eating 7 portions of fruit and vegetables a day, yet a recent report by the Food Foundation revealed that 80% of adults and 95.5% of children aged 11 – 16 are not eating enough. 

Council Leader, Cllr Huw Thomas, who signed the pledge on behalf of the city at a Vegetable Summit held in Cardiff Bay yesterday, said:  “My administration is determined to get to grips with the issue of health inequality in our city. That’s why I’m proud to sign this pledge, to help give residents the opportunity to make healthier choices. On average we should all be eating at least one more portion of vegetables every day to decrease the risk of diet related diseases, so by becoming a ‘veg city’ we want to educate our children about the importance of a healthy diet, and ensure our schools and Council premises support people in eating at least more vegetables.”

As part of the pledge Cardiff Council will:

• Promote a campaign aimed at getting children aged 5 - 11 to eat more vegetables.
• Continue to support the rollout of the award-winning School Holiday Enrichment Programme (Food and Fun) in areas of need across Cardiff to ensure children are receiving two portions of vegetables in their main meal.
• Work towards supporting people to eat two portions of vegetables in main meals provided by the Council’s catering services, specifically in schools catering, staff canteens and external venues.

Cabinet Member for Clean Streets, Recycling and Environment, Cllr Michael Michael, said:  “Getting people to eat more vegetables is no easy task and will require public, private and community organisations to all work together.  Thanks to the fantastic work being done with our partners via Food Cardiff, we are already a Bronze Sustainable Food City and signing this pledge take us closer to our shared goal of making local, healthy, affordable and environmentally friendly food a defining feature of Cardiff.”

Katie Palmer, who heads up Food Cardiff said: “We are delighted that stakeholders from across the food system in Cardiff have taken the “pledge for more veg” and we look forward to working with organisations in the city as we develop our campaign to become one of the first Veg Cities in the UK.”