healthy canteens for our schools

how healthy is your school canteen?

School canteens have attracted heaps of attention recently for the high-fat, high-calorie junk food many of them serve our kids, and how they contribute to the rise in childhood obesity and diabetes. Sure there's canteens out there still serving high-fat, high-sugar and high-sodium snacks to our kids, but we've also come across tuckshops serving delicious organic lunches and yummy natural snacks - and the kids seem so much happier and healthier for the change.

We'd like to think canteens want to change the food they serve because they want to make a difference, but we also know how difficult it is to run a canteen profitably. There's a lot of wonderful work being done by canteen managers, volunteers, principals, teachers and parents associations to promote healthy eating in our canteens and tuckshops. To all those wonderful people, we cannot thank you enough. But most of us would agree there's a lot of work still to do. 

Why it's so important to junk the junk
Poor nutrition can have an adverse effect on a child's ability to concentrate, study, grow and socialise with other students.  The UK Soil Association found that healthy school meals can lead to better behaved students who are more alert in class. Also, students who eat canteen food made with fresh (preferably organic), unprocessed ingredients have "better concentration, improved attention spans, are less likely to be hyperactive, and are calmer. They also have an increased capacity to learn and are less likely to be absent from school." Read more about the benefits of organic food for kids.

School canteens play a pivotal role in communicating food messages at school, and there needs to be consistency with what is taught in the classroom about healthy eating and nutrition and what is actually provided in the tuckshop. Indeed, adult food preferences are formed during childhood so it is critical that efforts are made to improve the availability of healthy food options at school. An ideal way is to provide yummy organic alternatives to conventional, energy-dense and highly processed foods containing too much fat, salt, sugar and artificial additives.  

Going healthy can still mean healthy profits
One of the biggest obstacles to removing junk food from canteens appears to be the perceived impact on profits. We recognise that profits from canteens can be very valuable to a school's financial position, and its ability to fund particular activities, equipment or contribute to new building works. The perception appears to be that if a school dumps all the soft drink, pies, chips, sausage rolls and chocky bars, then kids won't buy anything (or certainly buy a lot less of what they used to). All that means lower profits, or so the argument goes.

We know how important funding is for a school to continue providing good quality educational services, and it would be a little optimistic to wish that schools operate canteens as non-profits or subsidised operations so that junk food is not as relied on for profits, but were not at that stage...yet. But junking the junk doesn't have to impact profits as many fear and, in fact, it may even generate higher revenue for the school. Healthy natural food can provide the same pricing margins for schools without making the purchasing cost to students way beyond what they can afford. Healthy food and healthy profits - sounds like a great idea to us.  

What some other schools are doing
Another big misconception is that students won't eat healthy food. It's something we hear a lot and it's just not true.  Many schools in Australia and around the world are leading the way in removing junk food and introducing natural and organic alternatives, including:

• After removing junk food and offering only healthy alternatives, Saibai Island State School in the Torres Strait found their canteen was doing better than ever, profit margins had improved, and students loved the new health menu.
• Many schools in the UK have introduced organic food. For example, St Peter's Primary School in Nottingham still provides pizza to their students, but the bases are homemade in the school kitchen using organic milk, organic oil and organic flour.
• In France, around 300,000 organic meals are served each year in ten school in Languedoc Rousillon and 400,000 a year in the Provence-Alpes-Cotes-d'Azur region.
• South Africa has gone a step further with its EduPlant program which promotes the cultivation of organic food in schools and has now reached over 12,000 schools over the past ten years.

If you have a great story about what your school canteen is doing to junk the junk and promote healthy eating, let us know and we'll include with our other wonderful examples.

Healthy fundraising ideas
Many schools depend in fundraising to generate much-needed funds for school activities and student services. Unfortunately, most of the fundraising is based on selling chocolates, sweets, donuts and other confectionary, which undermines attempts to encourage healthy eating for our kids. If selling food is a great way to fundraise, then why not make the food yummy, healthy and nutritious?

Whole Kids has responded to the growing need for healthier fundraising alternatives and developed an exciting new idea called 'Healthy Funds for Schools Program'. We think its a great fun way for schools to fundraise while supporting healthy eating habits, and there's potential to raise just as much money - maybe even more - than the old chocky drive.

What can I do as a parent to help improve my school canteen?
There are many ways you can help your school provide healhier food in your children's canteen but, like all good causes, it's worth knowing what's going on and moving forward as a committed group - parents, teachers, canteen managers & volunteers, and students all working together to bring about change. Talk about your concerns with other parents and representatives from the school. If you come up against some of the misconceptions we discussed earlier, press ahead - don't take no for answer. After all, we're trying to improve your child's health and future wellbeing. 

It goes without saying that every parent has the right to propose improvements in their school's curriculum, activities, services and even what canteen food is being served to their kids. A great place to start is to find out whether your school has a policy of what is served in the canteen, whether there is a canteen committee at your school, and whether your tuckshop is part of any of the state-based canteen associations (check them out in our resources page).

By developing a new policy or reviewing an existing policy, members of the school community can contribute their ideas, opinions and suggestions to bring about the changes they want.  Many of the state-based canteen associations provide helpful guide and checklists to assess the health of your school canteen. And we shouldn't forget the most important group of all - the students. Feedback from kids and meetings with students across all years can be worthwhile. You may be surprised how many students also want to get rid of junk food from the canteen.