Truro School partners with charity The Hive Cornwall

Truro School partners with Cornish charity The Hive Cornwall to produce up to 4000 meals a week for people suffering from food insecurity.

Truro School has donated use of its catering facilities and cookery staff to help The Hive Cornwall batch produce nutritious food for people suffering from food insecurity. Using surplus food products donated by national suppliers, the team have been busily preparing and cooking a range of delicious meals for children who normally qualify for free school meals, and whose schools are now closed, and elderly people.

The Hive Cornwall is a Cornish charity engaged with processing and extending the longevity of surplus food in order to reduce greenhouse gases, feed those in food poverty and provide employment opportunities for the disadvantaged. As a result of the emergency situation arising from Covid-19, The Hive received an informal request from the Cornwall Council Emergency Planning committee asking them to explore the urgent restarting of food production. Following this request, The Hive, having outgrown the kitchens at RNAS Culdrose, put out an appeal for the use of an industrial kitchen and Truro School stepped in to help.

The food is currently being batch cooked within the Truro School catering department before being vacuum packed or frozen into 2kg pouches. Each pouch provides nutritious food for a family of up to five and is delivered to distribution locations within Cornwall. Charity workers and schools are then able to access the pouches from these locations and distribute directly to those in need.

Assistant Head of Cookery at Truro School, Alistair Turner commented: “It is a privilege to be working alongside The Hive to produce food for those who would otherwise struggle during this period. The catering facilities at Truro School are perfect for this project and with the school moving to remote teaching during this period they are facilities that would otherwise be sitting empty.

He continued: “This morning we received 394 gammon joints from a national supplier. The joints had been rejected by the supermarkets due to a short use by date. By batch cooking them on the day and freezing them we are extending the longevity of surplus food and it is incredible to think that without charities such as The Hive these would have contributed to the 6 million tonnes of food that is otherwise sent to landfill each year.”

The Hive Chair of Trustees, Tony Hogg, commented: “We are very grateful to Truro School for stepping in to support our food production during this time. With 1 in 4 children in Cornwall currently suffering food insecurity, it is at times like these that our community rely greatly on donations from local businesses and we would like to thank Truro School, Cornwall Council, Bosvigo School, Brakes, Conway Bailey and a growing band of volunteers for their help in continuing our work to deliver thousands of meals each week to vulnerable people.”