HEALTHY SCHOOL NUTRITION ENVIRONMENTS a blueprint

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HEALTHY SCHOOL NUTRITION ENVIRONMENTS a blueprint

• MPESA AGM
• September 14, 2006
• Pat Bugera-Krawchuk, RD Dairy Farmers of MB
• Corinne Eisenbraun, RD Dietitians of Canada

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Today well look at

• What school nutrition policy is and why its
  important
• National and provincial perspectives
• Provincial process leading to development of
• Manitoba School Nutrition Handbook
• Process, partners, status
• Vending
• Making your policy work

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Why is School Nutrition Policy Important?
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A Day in the life of Andrea

• Monday Andreas 7th birthday mom brings donuts
  for the whole class
• Tuesday bake sale day buys cupcake at 1130
• Wednesday Special Food Day pizza pops, chips
  and pop on the menu
• Thursday ski trip is cancelled. The principal
  makes up for the cancellation with pop and chips
  for everyone
• Friday Valentines Day class celebration with
  candy and cake

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School Nutrition Policy is important because

• Education and health are intimately linked
• Students spend as much time at school as in any
  other environment
• Next to parents, schools have the most impact on
  shaping childrens eating habits
• Students typically have at least one snack or
  meal at school per day

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School Nutrition Policy

• creates supportive school environments for
  healthy food choices designed to
• improve the nutritional intake of students
• provide students an opportunity to practice what
  they learn in the classroom
• demonstrate that schools value student health
• contribute to the primary prevention of chronic
  disease

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A Nutrition Policy is

• a statement of philosophy and belief
• established to make healthy choices the easy
  choices
• a way to ensure that good nutrition is promoted
  both in theory and in practice
• direction for action

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• Guidelines vs Policies

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National Action on School Nutrition

• Policies/ guidelines included in formal
  provincial Healthy Living Strategies NS, BC, NL
• Departmental policy on school food - NB
• Coalitions working on policies/ guidelines with
  provincial support PEI, AB
• Policies left to individual districts or interest
  groups SK, ON, PQ

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Manitoba School Nutrition

• The Provincial Government has taken a middle of
  the road approach
• Provision of direction, tools, resources with
  reporting requirements, but very firm that an
  one size fits all will not work
• Commitment to move forward through reporting
  requirements

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Provincial All Party Task Force Healthy Kids,
Healthy Futures

• Public consultations between January and March
  2005
• Report released June 2005 which included 47
  recommendations
• Provincial government accepted all
  recommendations and made commitment to act upon
  them
• http//www.gov.mb.ca/healthykids/index.html

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Task Force Nutrition Recommendations

• All schools to have a written school food and
  nutrition policy
• The Province will provide model policy statements
  as examples to help schools or school divisions
  to develop specifics to suit local needs
• The Province will provide Guidelines for Foods
  Served at Schools as well as a series of tools
  and resource
• Schools will be required to report annually to
  parent advisory councils and Manitoba Education,
  Citizenship and Youth on actions taken on
  nutrition
• Phased in over a period of two years beginning in
  the 2006-2007 school year

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Manitoba Council for Child Nutrition

• Vending Demonstration Project in 8 schools across
  the province all (3) high schools in one
  district
• Seeking to determine the products and features
  that will support healthier choices in vending
  machines and an assessment of the financial
  impact of those changes

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Dietitians of Canada

• Provincial consultation with a selected number of
  schools to inform development of the Nutrition
  Handbook
• Development of tools and resources
• Co-ordinate a provincial survey of current school
  food environments

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http//www.gov.mb.ca/healthyschools/report.html
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School Consultation Key Findings

• The guidelines should include a clear direction
  or goal including reasons for the guidelines,
  and parent information
• The guidelines need to be flexible and provide a
  defined range of food choices, allowing schools
  to make decisions to fit with local needs
• Practical guidelines that outlines a simple set
  of standards regarding foods served and sold in
  schools.

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Development of Draft Handbook

• Based on consultation input, literature review,
  key informant interviews across Canada
• Draft reviewed by RDs across MB
• Sent to all publicly funded schools late April
  Released for public input May 17 Special notices
  sent to key agencies and education NGO
• http//www.gov.mb.ca/healthyliving/handbook.html

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Handbook status

• Text has been designed, reviewed and signoff
  expected shortly for printing
• French translation underway
• Handbook will be released in hard copy and
  electronically shortly

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Guidelines

• Based on Nutritional criteria and Canadas Food
  Guide to Healthy Eating plus one additional
  section on beverages
• Include
• What to check for on labels to choose the
  healthiest options
• What an appropriate serving size looks like
• Lists of choices to serve most often, sometimes
  and rarely
• Lists products that are better choices for
  canteens and vending machines
• Provides tips for makings choices more nutritious

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Food Environment Survey

• Sent to all schools with the draft guidelines
  550 79 were completed and returned.
• Manitoba schools across the province are well
  represented in the results.
• Data undergone data clean up and has been scanned
  and prepared for analysis.
• Report is anticipated by mid-autumn

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Top ten foods sold in schools (draft)
Cafeterias Canteens

• Chocolate milk
• Sandwiches/wraps
• Cookies
• Pizza
• French fries
• Soft drinks
• Soup
• 100 fruit juice
• Water
• White milk

• Chocolate milk
• Candy
• Pizza
• Chips
• Hotdogs
• Chocolate bars
• Soft drinks
• Ice cream
• 100 fruit juice
• Water

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Vending (draft)

• 55 of schools had vending machines
• Prime rationale for vending
• 62 Service to students
• 13 Fundraising
• 12 service to staff

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Making Your Policy Work

• Involve as many representatives of the school
  community as possible in policy development
• Superintendents
• School Trustees
• Administrators
• Teachers (phys ed, Food Nutrition, etc.)
• Parents
• Students
• Dietitian

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Making Your Policy Work

• The policy should cover all foods and beverages
  served or sold within the school and at/for
  school sponsored activities
• The policy should be widely publicized and apply
  to students,student organizations, staff and
  meal/snack providers
• Educate staff and students

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Policies Can Cover

• Foods available at special events
• Commercial vending/catering contracts
• Cafeterias and canteens
• Nutrition education for students/staff
• Using food as reward
• Fundraising

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Policies Can Cover

• Food packaging and waste
• Food Security
• Eating environments
• Role modeling
• Support of local food producers
• And many more, depending on the issues identified
  by your school/division

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Yes, but

• Early Years The biggest problem is what students
  bring from home schools cant tell parents what
  to do
• Middle Years Students arent interested in
  healthier options
• Senior Years What about the loss of revenue from
  vending machines? Students will just go off
  campus to get what they want.

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Things to consider

• Change takes time
• Allow for phased in implementation
• Make action plans realistic start where you are
  likely to succeed
• Monitor and evaluate changes
• Celebrate success

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MB Reporting Requirements

• As per letter from MECY to schools in May 2006,
  schools will be required to include reporting on
  nutrition policies beginning in the 2007/08
  school plan
• Final reporting tool is under development
• Planning for it to be a simple process

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Next steps

• Distribution of the Handbook in English and
  French to all schools and significant
  stakeholders
• A series of workshops to assist in the
  application and implementation of the nutrition
  policies between late October and late March
• A 1-800 and e-mail assistance lines from early
  October to the end of May
• Collaborative support from Dairy Farmers of
  Manitoba, Manitoba Council for Child Nutrition
  and Dietitians of Canada

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Resources

• www.ssta.sk.ca/EducationServices/ResearchAndDevelo
  pment/ResearchReports/StudentsDiverseNeeds/04-01.p
  df (Defining nutritious and non-nutritious food,
  pricing and promotion, fundraising, food
  security, food service contracts) 
• www.gov.pe.ca/peihea/index.php3?number1005084lan
  gE (special events) 
• www.gnb.ca/oooo/policies.asp under Health
  Safety heading (pricing and promotion) 
• http//www.osnpph.on.ca/pdfs/call_to_action.pdf (C
  all to Action Creating a Healthy School
  Nutrition Environment)