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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
‘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.
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 food programs should be key elements of governments’ COVID-19 responses. In planning these, the relationships that are part of providing food matter.
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.