Goodbye to unhealthy vending in schools

Citation

(2006), "Goodbye to unhealthy vending in schools", Nutrition & Food Science, Vol. 36 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/nfs.2006.01736bac.001

Goodbye to unhealthy vending in schools

Goodbye to unhealthy vending in schools

“Healthy vending in schools” national conference was held on 2 November at the East of England Showground Peterborough.

The success of the first ever national conference to promote healthy vending is a further nail in the coffin for soft drinks and high fat snacks in schools. Hosted jointly by the Department of Health and the Health Education Trust, this event demonstrated healthy vending practices that are commercially viable for schools. The conference included an exhibition of 17 companies displaying vending machines with pre-approved drinks and snack items, illustrating that there is already a wide selection of suitable products available for schools.

As well as aiming to show how and why vending in schools can and should be transformed so that what children select from vending machines will contribute positively to their overall diet, the conference provided a launch-pad for HET’s real choice vending scheme. HET has established real choice to assist schools and vending operators in cutting through the confusion over what is and is not healthy by setting a gold standard for vending practices in schools.

Real choice registration for vending operators offers schools the assurance they need that a vending operator will only supply approved products. Manufacturers can also apply for real choice registration for specific products deemed suitable for school vending. Schools too can register for real choice vending, which will provide them with advice and support to establish their own healthy vending service, where the hard work of determining which products are suitable and which are not is done for them.

Joe Harvey, Director for the Health Education Trust explains “Vending is currently the most visible and publicly criticised example of bad practice in secondary school food services today. Our real choice scheme is designed to raise the standard of vending in line with the recommendations of the Secretary of State so that it makes a major contribution to children's food and drink intake during the school day”.

The School Meals Review Panel (SMRP), set up by Ruth Kelly to “transform” the school meals service, has recommended a ban on confectionary, soft drinks and most packeted snacks from schools - and the Sec of State backed their findings!

There is no part of the school day which does not impact on children’s learning, and none that sits outside the school’s responsibility to manage as well as it can for the benefit of its pupils.

For many years vending in secondary schools has been dominated by the confectionary and soft drinks industry. Whenever the morality of this has been challenged the response has focussed on the revenue vending provides for the school, with too little concern for children’s health and nutrition.

This is all about to change. Evidence from three research projects run by the Health Education Trust for the Food Standards Agency, the Department of Health and the Welsh Assembly Government show that

• •

  children love chilled water, milks (flavoured and plain), juices and smoothies out of drinks machines; and

• •

  children will buy and enjoy a range of healthy fresh food snack products from chilled vending machines.

Joe Harvey confirms that “this pilot work has demonstrated healthy food and drinks vending is commercially viable and 'best practice”. Over the next 12 months vending in schools will be transformed by partnerships of contract caterers and vending operators working with head teacher’s, governors and bursars.

If the questions are “whether or when” healthy vending will replace traditional confectionary and coke, the answers are “now and quickly”!

For further information on the national healthy vending conference, visit www.healthedtrust.com/pages/events.htm.

For enquires about HET or to arrange an interview with Joe Harvey please call Kathryn Styles at the Health Education Trust on 01234 823025 or kathryn@healthedtrust.com.

The Health Education Trust (HET) is the UK registered charity, dedicated to initiating and supporting work with children and young adults to encourage the growth of healthy lifestyles. Operated by independent professionals with expertise in health education, education, nutrition and dietetics, HET strives to provide common sense approaches to government policies and delivers practical and realistic advice and solutions on topical food, health and education issues. HET pioneered the whole school approach and is now leading the way on healthier approaches to school vending.

For further information on the HET’s research projects into healthy vending visit

FSA & Welsh Assembly drinks vending toolkits - www.healthedtrust.com/pages/Vendingnews1.html.

Dept of Health “Food in Schools” food vending toolkit is available at www.foodinschools.org