The UK's only industry awards for free from food & drink

Sustainability Award

‘Healthy People, Healthy Planet’ Sustainability Award

Helping your business be more sustainable & profitable

Continuing our partnership with Sustainable Kitchen Consultants (SKC), we are pleased to offer all our entrants a chance to have a sustainability assessment covering all 3 pillars of sustainability: People, Planet, Profit

This is the only sustainability assessment that considers human health to be as important as planetary and environmental health, which aligns with the Free From Food Awards’ central tenet of benefitting the free from and allergic consumer.

The Healthy People, Healthy Planet approach is far more than a carbon assessment, and considers all aspects that should be incorporated into a sustainability strategy.

Share with us all the great things you and your brand are doing to produce sustainable products, and you could win a free detailed  assessment!

SKC have a range of great services to improve your sustainability actions, designed to help you advance your sustainable sourcing and recipes and train your teams in sustainability relating to food sector businesses, with discounts for all FFA entrants.

“…strong sustainability credentials can win favour with consumers. A gluten-/wheat-free product being more sustainable than a standard equivalent would prompt over a quarter of consumers to buy it. Furthermore, sustainable packaging would encourage 23% of buyers to purchase a product.” 2023 Mintel UK Attitudes towards Gluten/Wheat-Free Food Market Report

To be eligible for consideration you will need to:

1. Enter a product into one of the Main Categories making sure to share details about the sustainability of your business / food product, covering:

  • your business operations
  • your food product
  • your ingredients suppliers

The Judging Process

Your sustainability answers and your entry form will be assessed by the SKC team, after which both SKC and FFA teams will agree a final score for your product, a little like an MOT – although in this case there is no pass or fail; instead you’re assessed against a target ‘Healthy People, Healthy Planet’ benchmark, and provided with helpful advisories on how you could improve. Details below.

The Results Process

The winner will be announced at the Presentation Party in June 2025, and will have the right to use the ‘Healthy People, Healthy Planet’ logo on the product, or in accordance with our logo guidelines.

Should you wish to work further with the Sustainable Kitchen Consultants, you will be able to take advantage of their discount offer to all FFA entrants. Details will be sent to all entrants into the Sustainability Award once the entry window is closed.  Their services include:

  • Sustainable ingredient sourcing
  • Recipe development (Healthy, sustainable, free-from experts)
  • Sustainability training
  • ‘Healthy People, Healthy Planet’ Accreditation and QR codes

Sustainable Kitchen Consultants

The SKC team is founded by CEO Julie Cleijne – who has extensive experience in:

  • Sustainability & Nutrition trained Chef
  • IEMA Sustainability Practitioner
  • MBA Innovation in Sustainable Food & Agriculture
  • Specialist in Sustainable diets, low-waste, seasonal, low-carbon, healthy, plant based & free from
  • Sustainability, Healthy & Free From Consultant
  • Great Taste Award Judge
  • Free From Awards Judge
  • British Leeks Ambassador
  • Sustainability Training, Auditing, Mentoring
  • Recipe developer
  • Keynote Speaker
  • Value from food waste specialist
  • 25 years Programme Management, Management Consultancy, Corporate Strategy experience
  • Consultant to Soil Association & Pasture for Life Assurance (PFLA)

The extended SKC team are a collective of nutritionally trained chefs, specialists in low-carbon, low waste, plant-based & free from cooking, providing recipe development & NPD expertise, with over 45 years collective experience in foodservice businesses in London, New York, Spain, Australia & South Africa.

Their assessment will identify areas where your business could focus its attention on improving its sustainability credentials, for the business operations, or for the products, and whether you meet the ‘Healthy People, Healthy Planet’ target benchmark and you will receive a full summary report (the advisories).