Prime Minister Justin Trudeau next to the chef and other people at the Boys and Girls Club East Scarborough, in Toronto, before an announcement to launch a National School Food Program, April 1, 2024.
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Researchers and co-chairs of the Canadian Association for Food Studies’ School Food Working Group explain what Ottawa should prioritize to ensure its national school food program succeeds.
School meal waivers that started with the COVID-19 pandemic stopped with the end of the public health emergency.
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Since nutrition standards were strengthened in 2010, eating at school provides many students with healthier food than is available cheaply elsewhere. Plus, reducing stigma increases the number of kids getting fed.
Food insecurity is often talked about as an issue of individual responsibility. But our research suggests most people struggling to put food on the table are not the agents of their own misfortune.
While laptops have dropped in price, old-school supplies like pencils and markers are getting more expensive.
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Inflation is soaring, but prices for typical back-to-school gear like backpacks, computers and new clothes are rising less than average – or even falling.
Eating well makes it easier to concentrate on learning.
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An expert on food policy explains how the end of COVID-19 waivers will impact children’s access to food, as well as the importance of food banks and pantries.
About 30 million students eat school lunches daily.
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Many school lunchbox products are now heavily marketed as promoting gut health. The limited regulation of such claims leaves it to parents and carers to assess whether they really stack up.
Many children, especially from low-income communities or communities of color, eat up to half their daily calories in school.
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‘Local, organic, sustainable’ are common buzzwords on US restaurant menus now, but it wasn’t always that way. Alice Waters and her restaurant, Chez Panisse, helped put them there.
We developed a healthy lunchbox program. Here, we provide parents with ideas for swapping unhealthy foods kids might like to healthier ones comparable on cost, taste, texture and preparation time.
Food literacy includes understanding where food comes from and knowing how to plan, select, prepare and eat healthy meals.
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Ontario’s proposed Food Literacy Act for Students, a first in Canada, would mean students in grades 1-12 have opportunities to grow food and prepare food and learn about local foods.
School lunch is a lot less fun during a pandemic.
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School food programs should be key elements of governments’ COVID-19 responses. In planning these, the relationships that are part of providing food matter.
Do you know what your child is eating at school?
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A well-planned national school food progam in Canada could be a huge boost to children’s health outcomes, long-term healthcare spending and local agriculture and economies.