Kai Policy

He Oranga Pounamu ensures a healthy and safe environment for all employees, trustees and clients. He Oranga Pounamu wishes to respect the values and tikanga of all Maori and this policy has been developed to ensure this occurs. Please ensure that you always conduct yourself in a respectful manner when attending any meetings or Hui where you are a representative of He Oranga Pounamu.

Internal Meetings

Employees are welcome to enjoy catering left over from meetings held on the premises during the day. When meetings are finished, staff involved will put any leftover food in the kitchen and inform other staff that it is available. If there is catering left over at the end of the day, employees are encouraged to take this home to avoid wastage. Please do not store food to take home before other staff have had an opportunity to enjoy the leftover food.

External Meetings

From time to time He Oranga Pounamu will host hui away from our own premises and organise catering as appropriate. Employees attending the hui are welcome to enjoy kai leftover when the hui is finished. However, kai should not be removed from the host venue. Left over kai is to be passed on to employees/tenants of the venue for their consumption/disposal. It is not tika to remove kai and bring it back to our offices. Please also ensure that the host premise is left in a tidy manner.

Nutrition Policy

All catering at He Oranga Pounamu should be planned around the following guidelines. These will assist you or your caterer to make healthy choices the easy choices.

1. Offer a variety of food to ensure the healthy choices are always available. Minimise or exclude unhealthy choices.
2. Prepare food with minimal added fat (especially limited saturated fat eg. butter, hard cheeses and cream) and salt.
3. Where pre-prepared foods are served, provide those that are low in fat (especially limit saturated fat, eg. butter, hard cheeses, processed meats and cream) salt and sugar.
4. Offer a variety of non-alcoholic beverages. Alcohol may not be served on Company premises without prior approval from the Chief Executive Officer.

As well, consider the following points:

• There should be appropriate recognition and practice of food protocols for different ethnic, cultural and religious beliefs.
• Vegetarian options should always be available.
• Special dietary requirements need to be catered for (when sending out invitations, if appropriate ask guests if they have any special dietary requirements).
• Where possible caffeine-free hot and cold drinks should be available eg. decaffeinated coffee.
• This is particularly important for functions outside He Oranga Pounamu and may require the organiser to have alternatives available.
• Where possible, labels and packaging of food and drinks should be available to allow staff to identify what they are being served, eg. orange juice etc.

These guidelines have been used with the permission of the Nutrition and Physical Activity team, Community and Public Health, Christchurch.