The Federation of Canteens in Schools (FOCIS) backs Dietitians Australia’s urgent call for more help
for school canteens to implement the Northern Territory School Nutrition and Healthy Eating Guidelines.
With rising living costs, families increasingly rely on school canteens to provide affordable meals. At the same time, rates of food insecurity are continuing to climb and FOCIS members are seeing school canteens across the country struggling with skyrocketing supply costs, as well as a worrying drop in the numbers of volunteers that are essential to the successful operation of many school canteens and tuck shops.
The combination of these concerns has prompted Leanne Elliston, FOCIS Chairperson and Senior Dietitian at Nutrition Australia to say that asking school canteens to comply with mandatory Government policies
on healthy food and drink offerings with no additional support is simply unfair.
“The stark reality is that children in the Northern Territory face many dietary challenges contributing to higher rates of iron-deficient anaemia and chronic malnutrition. This underscores the urgency of providing access to nutritious meals in the school environment,” she says.
Don’t set canteens up to fail
FOCIS Executive member and CEO of the Queensland Association of School Tuckshops (QAST) Deanne Wooden told EducationDaily she shares Elliston’s concerns.
“The Queensland Association of School Tuckshops agrees that expecting Northern Territory school canteens to implement a mandatory government policy requiring healthy foods and drinks, without providing any measurable support is setting them up to fail,” says Wooden.
“Canteen managers need a complex range of knowledge and skills to achieve a balance between remaining financially viable while offering healthy options for students. Accredited practising dietitians are ideally suited to provide this support, and QAST backs Dietitians Australia in their call for better access to this workforce in schools.
“In Queensland, we are fortunate to receive Health and Wellbeing Queensland funding to deliver the Healthier Tuckshops program. This funding allows us to develop resources and communications to help tuckshops serve healthy food and drinks in line with the Department of Education’s Smart Choices strategy. Without this funding, our organisation would simply cease to exist. Where then, would tuckshops go to find this type of support?”
Supporting healthy food supply policies is critical
Elliston says that, with over 100 years combined experience working in this space, “FOCIS members know that the success of healthy food supply policies and guidelines depends entirely on the support of those implementing them”.
But without sufficient resources, Elliston says “school canteen operators face significant challenges in effectively fulfilling these expectations”.
“There is a real opportunity here for Accredited Practicing Dietitians to be involved in supporting the
school canteen sector. We throw our support behind Dietitians Australia in calling on the NT Government to provide the financial and practical support school canteens need to break down nutrition barriers and help students develop healthy eating habits for life.”
