New Food and Beverage Classification System



New Food and Beverage Classification System

Developed by the Ministry of Health, the Food and Beverage Classification System will provide a framework to help early childhood education (ECE) services and schools make decisions about the healthy foods and beverages they provide for children and young people in their education settings.

The Food and Beverage Classification System is being designed to help students, teachers, ECE service supervisors, principals, canteen managers, food preparation staff, food suppliers, parents, school boards and the wider school community. It supports the Ministry of Health’s Food and Nutrition Guidelines series (developed with input from Māori and Pacific peoples) and the Ministry of Education’s Food and Nutrition for Healthy, Confident Kids: Guidelines to Support Healthy Eating Environments in New Zealand Early Childhood Education Services and Schools

.

Covering food and beverages for children aged three months to 18 years, the Food and Beverage Classification System will build on initiatives already in place in many ECE services and schools. Ideally, all food and drink on offer to children will meet the recommendations of the system.

The Food and Beverage Classification System will set out healthy options for people involved in selecting food and beverages for catered meals, tuck shops/canteens, vending machines, sponsorship deals, fund-raiser events and rewards.

The main consideration when the foods and beverages are classified as suitable for children and young people is: are they low in fat, salt and sugar?

The Food and Beverage Classification System will evolve, as required, to cope with changes in food technology, eating patterns, research and education environments.

How will the system be implemented?

Later in 2007, a support programme will be offered to those involved in providing food in ECE services and schools, consisting of:

• professional development and information about the Food and Beverage Classification System and the Ministry of Education’s guidelines for early childhood services and schools, Food and Nutrition for Healthy, Confident Kids

• access to posters and other health promotion resources

• guidance about pre-prepared food and beverages as well as food and beverages prepared on site.

Why bring this in now?

The Ministry of Health’s 2002 National Children’s Nutrition Survey showed that just over half of the 5- to 14-year-olds surveyed bought at least some of their food from the school canteen, with 5 percent of children buying most of their food there. Most children do not choose food or drink just because of its nutritional value. They choose it because they like the taste, ‘because it’s lunch time’, because it’s what is offered or because it’s what their friends are having.

About one-quarter of the sugar in New Zealand children’s daily diets comes from beverages such as fizzy drinks, and nearly as much comes from lollies. Sugar increases the risk of tooth decay, especially if consumed often. Add pies, fried chips and chocolate bars to these sugary foods and you have a diet undesirably high in fat, salt and sugar. Many children don’t eat enough vegetables and fruit.

Food tastes develop at an early age, and encouraging healthy choices early in life can help create lifelong preferences for healthy foods. Some ECE services and schools already have policies or procedures about what is offered on site, to help ensure that healthy choices are available. Many more are developing such policies and the Food and Beverage Classification System will help them do this.

The Food and Beverage Classification System supports the Government’s recent Mission-On package with its focus on providing skills for children, young people and their families to improve their health through nutrition and physical activity.

How are foods and beverages classified?

There will be separate criteria and resources for preschool-aged and school-aged children. Basically, a three-tiered approach identifies foods and beverages that can be provided by the ECE service or school:

every day

such as: sandwiches, rolls, wraps, yoghurt, vegetables and fruit

or

sometimes

such as: pizza, muffins, macaroni cheese

or

occasionally

such as: pies, sausage rolls, chocolate bars, and deep-fried foods, for example, fries.

Ideally, only those foods and beverages that fit within the every day and sometimes sections of the Food and Beverage Classification System will be available at ECE services or at school, while the foods and drinks recommended for occasional use may only be offered about once a term (for example, for particular events).

What can we do now?

While the classification system is being finalised, ECE services and schools can make a start by removing from their menu:

• pastry items (pies, sausage rolls, croissants, sweet pastries)

• lollies/confectionery

• deep-fried foods

• full-sugar fizzy drinks

and replacing them with healthy options. The items listed above are occasional foods and should not be offered every day.

The whole community has responsibility for providing a healthy environment for children, including a healthy food environment. We all have to work together to achieve this.

Printed March 2007. Code 1816

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download