Food is at the heart of everything we do at The Jamie Oliver Group. Food is fun, joyful, creative and should keep us healthy.
It’s important to consume a variety of foods to get the nutrients we need, and to stay healthy. This means eating from all of the food groups in the Eatwell Guide. There’s a place for all kinds of food in our diet – we don’t label foods as ‘good’ or ‘bad’ – it’s about how often and how much and understanding the difference between nutritious ‘everyday’ foods and ‘occasional’ foods such as cake and pastries.
We have nutrition guidelines for every part of the business – for the recipes in Jamie’s books and TV shows, the dishes on our global franchised restaurant menus and the products we sell.
We work towards specific criteria for each project, and wherever possible we ensure that the majority of the recipes we create meet the ‘everyday’ food nutrition criteria detailed below.
Our everyday recipes contain at least three of the food groups and one portion of veg (at the very least). They must contain less than 30% of the average recommended daily calories, saturated fat, sugar and salt. We monitor portion size and make sure recipes are within the green or amber colour-coded scale for saturated fat, salt and sugar.
Typically higher in calories, sugar, salt or saturated fat, occasional recipes are designed to be consumed as part of a balanced diet. Even so, we set an absolute upper limit, so they will contain no more than 100% of the maximum daily recommendation for saturated fat, salt or sugar and no more than 1,000 calories.
We base our standards on government nutrition guidelines, and support Public Health England’s sugar, salt and calorie reformulation targets for key product categories. We have specific guidelines for recipes and dishes for children, which (in the absence of Reference Intakes for children) are based on previous GDAs and School Food Standards.
Jamie recommends buying the best ingredients you can afford, and trading up to free-range or organic whenever possible. Always check labels to understand where your food comes from. If buying seafood, look for certified sustainable products.
All of our global franchised restaurants use a system called Trace One to track exactly where ingredients come from. The Jamie’s Italian kids’ menu is famous for its provenance – we use organic beef, free-range chicken and the highest-quality sustainable fish. Plus, any palm oil must be certified sustainable.
We work hard to ensure our sourcing is in line with Jamie’s standards and beliefs, and use Trace One to trace every ingredient used in Jamie’s range of licensed products.