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Eureka!, the National Children’s Museum and Suma, the UK’s largest supplier of wholefoods have joined forces to form a unique partnership which aims to inspire children to play, eat and live healthily. The two organisations based in West Yorkshire will work together on a number of projects, including the design and installation of a new outdoor play area at Eureka! Now open.

The partnership supports Eureka!’s focus on healthy living and play-based learning: the museum already promotes exercise and health through the touring sports exhibition Mission: Active Future and its largest indoor gallery “Me and My Body”.

The relationship with Eureka!, an educational charity, will help position Suma in the family market, showcasing the brand to the 250,000 children and families who visit the museum every year. In June, Suma will be selling special promotional cans of it's best selling Organic Chopped Tomatoes, that entitle purchasers to a free child's ticket to Eureka, worth £7.50. (Full conditions on can)

Andrew Mackintosh Suma’s PR Manager said: “At Suma we try to minimise our input on the environment and we are fiercely selective when it comes to what we sell, where it comes from and the products social, ecological and ethical provenance.
“The partnership with Eureka! encourages play and educates about healthy living signals a new direction of community investment and one which we are very excited and proud to be a part of”

About Eureka!
·Around 60,000 school children come to the museum every year and the museum delivers around 2,500 on-site educational workshops covering an imaginative range of curriculum-related topics.
·For more information visit www.eureka.org.uk

Suma has now joined the masses and got its very own group on Facebook. Facebook is a social networking site on the Internet. It primarily allows people to keep in touch with friends, but you can also join groups to show support for a given cause or business. It then becomes easy to keep up to date with news, discuss with other group members, and make suggestions. Other groups include Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s ‘River Cottage’ and The Fairtrade Foundation.

Social networking is an opportunity for us to talk to our customers and gives you the chance to feedback or share ideas with us. If you join you will be first to know about new products, and we may even do the odd Facebook special offer. You can also make suggestions for the group, it is up to you! So if you are a member of Facebook, search for Suma Wholefoods and join our community. Visit www.facebook.com

Ethical shopping just got easier! To help consumers make the New Year a better and more compassionate one, animal welfare organisation Naturewatch is today launching the 11th edition of the Compassionate Shopping Guide.

The 80 page handbag size Guide shows how consumers can choose beauty, personal care and household products that have not been tested on animals. It clearly lists which products have been developed using animal testing, and covers most personal and household brands in the UK.

Numerous companies produce outstanding cruelty free products, but just as many refuse to adopt humane testing policies. Despite there being a voluntary ban on the testing of cosmetic ingredients on animals in the UK, testing continues elsewhere in the world, and as a European Commission report published in November 2007 shows, costs the lives of thousands of animals per year in Europe alone.

Though the European Commission has agreed legislation to introduce a ban on animal testing of cosmetic ingredients, it is still several years until the total ban comes into effect in 2013. Until then, the Guide suggests a very practical and positive way in which shoppers can make a difference, enabling them to make informed ethical choices and use their purchasing power to support companies that have committed to cruelty free.

To make it even easier to buy cruelty free, each and every copy of the Guide is accompanied by money saving offers on cruelty free products. From Green People, Naked, Simply Soaps, Beauty Naturals, Moom and Weleda, to name a few, offering super discounts and gorgeous free gifts!

The Compassionate Shopping Guide costs £3.00 including p&p and is available from Naturewatch’s web site www.naturewatch.org or by phoning 01242 252871.

Bob Cannell, a member of Suma's personnel team, was a visiting lecturer recently at one of the UK's top business schools in Warwick University. The MA Industrial Relations students and staff heard Bob describe how worker cooperatives in the UK are hindered by UK employment laws.

Bob said that the European Commission and many management gurus are warning that 21st century businesses need to offer flexible work roles within secure employment. Suma members pride themselves on multi-skilling, job rotation and the efficient use of labour that results; But current laws are designed to create a rigid master/servant relationship. Worker cooperatives like Suma can find themselves outside of the law as a result. Unless the UK amends it’s employment laws, Bob said, we could find ourselves lagging behind other countries.

Warwick are planning to ask Bob back, so they must have enjoyed it.

When Suma Member Keith heard about Tia Greyhound and Lurcher rescue in his home town of Hebden Bridge, he instantly proposed that Suma should sponsor one of the dogs that was unsuitable for re-homing. The next day Keith was off to Tia and chose Buddy, a big softy who loves cuddles and playing in the paddock.

Isn't he cute!
Our sponsorship helps pay for Buddys food, vet bills and general care. And what’s best is that any Suma worker is able to take him for a walk. With over 100 of us he is going to become one fit pooch!

For over ten years, Tia Greyhound and Lurcher Rescue have been committed to rescuing and rehoming stray, abandoned and ex-racing greyhounds and lurchers. They operate a 'no kill' policy believing that no animal should be put to sleep because a home cannot be found immediately or because veterinary treatment may be too expensive .

If you are interested in sponsoring or giving a dog a home, visit www.tiagreyhounds.org.uk for more information.

Suma received some coverage on BBC 1’s ‘What's Really in Our Food’. In the episode, Healthy Profits, Presenter Gregg Wallace looked at healthy eating and asked if it is worth paying that little bit extra for healthy foods. He compared a shopping trip to a supermarket buying ready meals with a trip to a wholefood shop for the ingredients.  Suma green lentils, sunflower seeds and tinned beans were all looked at favourably. For more information about this programme, and some interesting video clips visit: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/whats_really_in_our_food/7103576.stm