NSW government has come out with a new Healthy School Canteens which sounds good on glance but can add a lot workload for the canteen organiser. Public school canteens around my area are all run by volunteer parents. All information are taken directly from NSW’s Healthy School Canteens website.
It is a quite complex and comprehensive one just reading it will take a while let alone properly understand and implement them. Following is the main steps and some of the example information.
- Step 1: Determining Everyday or Occasional foods
- Step 2: Making it healthier
- Step 3: Balancing your menu
- Step 4: Marketing a healthy canteenRecipes
Everyday food
- Fill the canteen menu with at least three-quarter of Everyday food and drinks.
- Everyday food and meals are those made from the 5 food groups, plus water (see below).
- Everyday food and drinks can be fresh or packaged.
- Portion sizes apply to flavoured milk, juices and hot meals.
- Every section of the menu should include at least 1 Everyday food or drink.
- Everyday food should be promoted.
Five food groups
- Vegetables, and legumes/beans.
- Fruit, including fresh, dried, frozen, canned in juice, 99% fruit juice.
- Grain foods, including bread, breakfast cereals, rice, pasta, oats – wholegrain and high-fibre varieties are recommended.
- Lean meats and alternatives, including poultry, fish, eggs, tofu, legumes and beans.
- Milk, yoghurt, cheese and/or alternatives – choose mostly reduced-fat varieties. Choose milk alternatives such as soy, rice or almond milk with calcium added.
Occasional food
- Limit Occasional food to no more than one-quarter of your canteen menu.
- These are mostly higher in saturated fat, sugars and/or salt, and may have little nutritional value. They are not needed as part of a healthy diet and should be eaten only sometimes and in small amounts.
- These should not be the main choices on your menu.
- Only the healthiest versions of these packaged foods with a Health Star Rating of 3.5 and above should be sold in school canteens
- Check that your Occasional food or drink does not exceed the recommended portion size
These foods should not be promoted.
Examples include
- Oven-baked hot chips and pastries: Chips, wedges, hash browns, pies, sausage rolls, samosas, spring rolls (do not deep-fry).
- Processed meats: Hot dogs, bacon, salami; crumbed/coated meats, e.g. nuggets, schnitzel.
- Sweet foods: Cakes, e.g. muffins, banana bread, muesli bars, sweet biscuits, croissants, danish, desserts, ice cream.
- Diet drinks: Soft drinks, iced teas, flavoured waters or juices sweetened with intense natural or artificial sweeteners, e.g. stevia or aspartame.
While I think providing healthy food is a good thing, we have to be careful that we are not going to the other direction. The main task of keeping children healthy and active should be and rightly rest with the parents. We need to be careful in not overburden the volunteering parents with unnecessary guideline and requirements etc.
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