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School Menus, Far From Healthy? |
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Written by Craig - GKA Staff
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Monday, 23 May 2005 |
The staple school lunch is pies, hot-dogs or sausage rolls and less than a third of school canteens put fruit on the menu.
Almost three-quarters of schools sell hot chips or wedges, while nearly a quarter do not offer rolls or sandwiches. And those who did charged less for a pie than for a healthy bread roll.
Under a third have yoghurt on the menu and just 16 per cent sell muesli bars, but 80 per cent offered cookies, cakes, chocolate and donuts. All this information is courtesy of a Green Party survey aimed at cutting fatty foods from school lunch menus.
While many schools did offer healthy lunches, they were also selling foods loaded with fat and sugar.
If we want to know why childhood obesity and diabetes rates are escalating, one place to start looking is in school lunches.
A child eating a pie, chips, a cookie and a soft-drink for lunch was likely to consume the equivalent of 10 teaspoons of fat and 20 of sugar.
Dietician Sarah Crawford said children would always buy pies and chips over healthier foods when given the choice.
Schools that I have had the opportunity to visit seem to base their menu decisions on profit and convenience rather than the health of the children.
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