Calorie counting Katy helps students make healthy choices

Posted 31 October 2011

Students at Harper Adams can make informed decisions about the food they eat thanks to Catering Assistant Katy Smith, who has started calculating the calorie content of meals and drinks served on campus.

Katy, who has worked at the University College in Shropshire for five years, recently took up the challenge of working out the calories using computer software, a book, and skills picked up during her BSc (Hons) degree in Nutrition.

Calorie information for breakfast items and hot drinks is now available, with data clearly displayed on the menus for students and staff to see.

Katy said: “It is great using the skills learnt from my degree at Kings College in a practical way here at work. I believe we have a responsibility to provide this information to help inform and educate customers.

“It’s easy and relatively quick to do when you have the know-how and I’ve always enjoyed learning about healthy living and food options.

“My next challenge is to provide fat content information and also salt and sugar levels.”

Katy is currently working on the calculations for baguettes and main meals, both of which are served daily to first year students that are accommodated on campus, as well as staff and visitors.

Catering Manager, David Nuttall, said: “We want to encourage healthy choices here at Harper Adams. Students are becoming more health conscious and want to know exactly what they are eating.

“We always try to offer low-fat options, such as the salad bar, vegetarian main meals, fruit and ‘skinny’ hot drinks.

“It is great to have someone like Katy on site that can do the calorie calculations, she is a great asset to the team.

“It’s always nice when we conduct staff reviews and find out that they have other skills to offer in a practical way on campus, and even more so when this means helping customers to make informed choices.”