Ministry to issue menu guides on healthy foods to school canteens
Published:Saturday | February 11, 2023 | 1:00 AMAinsworth Morris/Staff Reporter
The Government is taking steps to issue menu options and nutritional guidelines to chefs, cooks and canteen operators at schools that continue to prepare, buy and sell food and drinks that are high in sodium and sugar content.
Christopher Tufton, minister of health and wellness, made the announcement on Thursday while speaking at a ceremony to launch phase one of the Heart Foundation of Jamaica’s campaign for the School Nutrition Policy dubbed, ‘Out Of Our Schools’ at the Spanish Court Hotel in New Kingston.
According to researchers leading the campaign, 23 per cent of children between the ages of 13 and 17 remain overweight or obese based on unhealthy diets.
Tufton said that menu guides are currently being prepared, and, his ministry will also work with the Ministry of Education and Youth and the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries on the ‘Eat what you grow, and grow what you eat’, school gardens and 4H Clubs’ programmes.
He said that parents should be encouraged to give more water to their children.
“That conversation must now become part of our psyche and it must centre on giving children the best possible opportunity for long life and quality of life,” he said.
The Out Of Our Schools campaign will endorse proper nutrition and encourage greater dialogue on the need for children to be offered healthier food options.
The Out Of Our Schools campaign will also encourage policymakers to implement a comprehensive healthy School Nutrition Policy for the well-being of students.
Tufton said the campaign will also assist people to understand the School Nutrition Policy, given that many parents are unaware of the healthy food options that should be given to their children.
“The truth is, there is almost a lost generation where the horse has bolted, gone through the gate, the most we can do now is build out hospital beds to give them a sense of comfort. It’s a tragic way to look at it, but it is the reality, but our children still have hope of a better life; a fulsome life, a productive life, a life that has a better probability of existing up until that 70; 75 [years of age] or beyond,” Tufton said.
The health and wellness minister said that adults have a duty and responsibility to give children the best possible chance to “fulfil their lifelong experience”.
“We are in a crisis, which, if we were to be blunt, there is actually a lost generation around that crisis, a cohort of citizens, who unfortunately, will have to spend the rest of their lives trying to make themselves as comfortable as they can, but will never be the same, in terms of their health profile.”
Tufton gave examples of how the current generation is suffering from past practices with high rates of sodium and sugary juices.
The Out Of Our Schools campaign is endorsed by the Ministry of Education and Youth, the Heart Foundation of Jamaica, the Pan American Health Organization, Paediatric Association of Jamaica, Caribbean Institute for Health Research, Medical Association of Jamaica and the Jamaica Association of Professionals in Nutrition and Dietetics.