Tuckshop Snapshot Tests Schools' Healthy Food Progress
To be released: 14 November 2007
New MBF Foundation Sponsored Survey to Examine Nutrition Choices in QLD School Canteens
A new statewide Queensland Association of School Tuckshops Inc. (QAST) survey funded by the MBF Foundation is about to test just how much progress schools have made in the past nine years in offering healthy food and drink choices to help combat childhood obesity.
The survey, which QAST last conducted in 1998, will examine the barriers and enablers to providing healthy foods in canteens.
The Education Queensland Healthy Food and Drink Supply Strategy, introduced in state schools from 1 January 2007, gives foods and drinks a red, amber or green rating based on their nutritional value. Those rated 'green' are encouraged and promoted but 'amber' calls for careful use and 'red' should be limited only to two occasions per school term.
MBF Chief Medical Officer and chair of the MBF Foundation Steering Committee, Dr Christine Bennett, said the Foundations' support in the form of this survey, and Education Queensland's initiatives to promote healthy food and drink choices was a welcome approach to a significant health issue.
"The current generation of children is at risk of becoming the first to have a shorter lifespan than their parents," Dr Bennett said.
"Good health habits of a lifetime including a nutritious and healthy diet start in childhood. In the face of competition from fast food availability and its wall-to-wall advertising, it is essential that school canteens are a big part of the solution.
"The Queensland tuckshop survey will be a vital tool to measure the progress school canteens are making in adopting healthy food choices. It will also help to identify tuckshop strategies and approaches that are working well in promoting healthy food choices."
QAST Executive Services Manager, Mrs Chris Ogden, said the study will help tuckshops improve menu quality and design, as well as enhancing their ability to provide safe, healthy and affordable food in the future by highlighting best practice.
"Most importantly, the survey will reveal whether children are actually eating healthier or just choosing the less healthy options" Mrs Ogden said. "This will allow us to determine if there is a link between profitability and providing healthy food choices, and identify the characteristics of schools that have achieved success in promoting wholesome options," she said.
QAST is a small, active non-government organisation with over 700 member tuckshops, established to promote and support school canteens. Areas examined by the survey include how food is supplied and sold, menu design considerations, policies and procedures, facilities, and financial, staffing and training issues.
About The MBF Foundation
The MBF Foundation is a charitable institution set up by MBF to support and manage important health initiatives for the community using a portion of MBF Group's investment income each year. Projects undertaken encompass three key areas – wellness and obesity, supporting healthy ageing and keeping healthcare affordable.
