Canteen rules & regulations..anyone in the know? (bit of a vent here)

[Beatrix]

actually in regards to policy it is not law..

so legally no they dont have to suck it up and follow it, anything policy related can not be forced upon someone

But yes policy should be followed to be consistant

[*Efjay*]

actually in regards to policy it is not law..

so legally no they dont have to suck it up and follow it, anything policy related can not be forced upon someone

But yes policy should be followed to be consistant

see this is what they were saying (sort of) but I kept coming across this

It is mandatory for all NSW Government schools (from Term 1, 2005)

so to me that sounds like its more then just a police.. am I right?

[Indadhanu]

In QLD its pretty much seen as law, even though I don't think they can actually ambush a school and host a seige of offending food LOL. It's just HIGHLY RECOMMENDED as far as I know. Most schools will take it in because its just good policy really (except some bits which I'll leave out of this post... ok no I won't... skim milk? For Kids? Is OTT to me... I think thats where it goes too far IMO... anyway LOL).

Good on you for standing up to those *****es. P&C meetings can get so catty, my mum was part of one and she'd always come home with tales to tell, sounded like a bloody high school drama group to me!

[Trillian]

Our school does follow it, because last year when I was volunteering one of the Mums I was on with wanted to make cupcakes, brought all of her own ingredients in, did the right thing and went and asked the Principal only to be told no, they couldn't because of the guidelines. But it is still up to the school how closely they follow them. I know our school does, but the high school doesn't. A friend of mine in another town that has macca's down the road from the high school wanted to, but couldn't because they knew if they took all the 'bad' stuff off the menu, they would go down the road to macca's anyway and at least that way they would be making money.

But that said this year our school does sell jelly cups at recess and once a month we do have a special cupcake day.

FJ, I think it is unrealistic to expect a canteen to be 100% healthy - it would be a death knell if it were. So long as they provide healthy choices and limit the number of 'bad' items a child can buy at once (Like we have these terrible yoghurt stick things and they can only buy 5 at a time) then you're probably on the right track.

[{sarah}]

Fiona I work for a school canteen supplier so we have to be pretty up there with the regulations.

It is mandatory & the school can be fined if they are audited by the School Canteen Association. I'm not sure what the fine is & in all the time I've worked with the guidelines none of our 150+ schools that we supply have been fined.

There are three categories of foods, using a traffic ligt system - red, amber and green. Red foods are only allowed to be supplied once a term, so schools can have a special say "pie day" once in a term but not sell pies for the rest of the term. Amber foods are alowed to be eaten once per week, some schools will only sell them on one day but smaller schools that the canteen ladies know all the kids can just make sure that eac child only buys the food one day IYKWIM. Green foods can be eten daily. You can find the guidelines & a calculator on the NSW School Canteen Assoc website.

The school can get a Buyer's Guide sent out once a term (I'm not sure if all schools automatically get it or if you have to register) and it has a listing of all the approved products. This is where we have a bit of a problem. The companies have to pay to get their products into the magazine, so if a company can't afford it then their product doesn't go in. So for example I think there are only two brands of water in the Buyer Guide, obviously any plain water is ok for kids though. This is where the calculator comes in, you put in the sodium, fat etc from the nutritional panel & it will tell you what category it's in.

Now even though it's mandatory, some schools don't follow it. We still have A LOT of schools that order frozen chips & oil and sell them every day. There are soooo many products now that companies have modified to bring them into line as well which makes it so much easier. Depending on the brand of Jelly Cups at the canteen at the moment, they may be ok. Most of the time it's just a matter of switching brands, this brand of chicken nuggets has too much salt, so swap over to that brand. It is a bit of work to get it started, but the canteen supplier should be well versed in the recommendations & be able to help them work out what products to change.

[*Efjay*]

Thanks Sarah.

Well see the argument of the p&c is that its only 2 days a week that our canteen operates so its ok. by the mandatory guidlines say 2 times a term only. Nothing about it being different if the canteen is only open 2 days aweek.

DH actually wantt o lodge a formal complaint about the amount of red foods in the canteen.

Here is a list of what you can get
Jelly cups (which are home made)
sun fruit snakes
sunfruit faces
hello panda's
ovalteenies
popcorn (butter)
chips
BBQ Jumpies
JJ's
yogurt frogs (and these taste GROSS)
Bulla crunch - double choc icecreams.

There is obvisoulsy more things but i am pretty sure all of the above is on the red list (minus the popcorn I think?) & this is all available 2 days a week.
It is limited to 1 packet of hello panda's but ATM there is no rule as a such saying the kids can not buy more then one of these items at a time.

Alot of the staff like these sun fruit face lollies so they are arguing them for their own sake but Its so not the point. Its the fact that these foods are available more then the 2 times a term.

[Trillian]

So Sarah, that might be why our school has 'school' chicken nuggets, which for all intents and purposes look exactly like normal chicken nuggets? LOL

ETA - our jelly cups are homemade ones, plus we have ovalteenies (which I think would be fine?) and chips and those god-awful JJ things. We only have zooper-dooper ice blocks and plain bulla icecream, but they are $1.50 so not many kids buy those anyway. We also do fruit cups (diced fresh fruit salad), vege sticks with dip or hommus and that's it!

[*Efjay*]

our healthy snack options are
Fruit cups (same as you trill, diced fruit salad)
Carrot sticks & salsa
Apple slinky (you know that gadget that spirals the apple
Oval rice crackers
Hot kid crackers (I actually have no idea what these are)
Garlic bread
Muffins
fruit (depending on the season)

[Lulu]

Our local council has a MASSIVE push for healthy eating for children, does your council have the same? Maybe you could use that for backup.

good on you xoxoxo

[Trillian]

They used to do the apple spirals, but I think it just got too 'hard' for the helpers to do it iykwim? The garlic bread is a bit of a dodgy choice if you ask me though, I would have thought with all the butter that it wouldn't be a great choice.

I think you should stick it to them on principal, you made the effort to attend the meeting and share your ideas and they treated you terribly. Let us know how you go OK?

[{sarah}]

Yep Trillian the "school" nuggets (Chickadee/Inghams ) are the same as the regular nuggets, just with reduced salt content. Chickadee spent months modifying their products & making a school version of almost everything they sell.

Koala brand popcorn Fiona? If it is, then yep it's fine. If the jelly is diet / low sugar then it's fine as well. Though the regulations are that homemade things are supposed to have a full list of ingredients with them The rest of those things I haven't even heard of LOL, so you are probably right they they are red!

ETA: There is a new garlic bread that has been released in the last term of 2008 that is approved La Famiglia brand.

[Pandora]

Fiona - from what Sarah has said it seems that you are well and truly in the right and that the school are flouting the regulations. Just because they are open only 2 days a week doesnt mean they can ignore them
Id either ring the School Canteen Association and make a complaint, and have them audited, or seek clarification and have them send something to the school (and to you) with the exact requirements.