Page 15 - ON THE WAY TO HEALTHIER SCHOOL CANTEENS - Irma Evenhuis

of their daily intake at school [4]. Although it is common that students (aged 12-18 years)
bring their lunch from home [19, 32], they can buy complementary snacks or drinks as 1 most schools offer food and drinks for sale in a cafeteria and/or vending machines. As
schools have autonomy with regard to arrangements for food and drinks, they are free to
choose if they offer food and drinks, the nature of the offering, and how they organise this.
Schools determine the number of days per week they sell food and where they sell it (e.g.
vending machines and/or cafeteria or tuck shops). They also determine who arranges the
catering (e.g. the school itself, an external catering company, or a combination).
Since 2003, the Netherlands Nutrition Centre has coordinated the “Healthy School Canteen Programme”, which is financed by the Dutch government [72]. This programme supports secondary (vocational) schools in creating healthier school canteens [73, 74]. As schools have autonomy in terms of how they arrange their food and drinks, this programme is voluntary, though the only formal guidance available for school canteens. Over the years, the programme has evolved and has been updated in response to insights from practice and science, and to new governmental policies. To illustrate, in 2009 the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sports acted in response to the resolution of parliamentarian Kees Vendrik, accepted by the house of representatives in 2009, to have healthy canteens in all Dutch secondary schools (approximately 1500) by 2015 [75]. In 2015, this was extended to 2017 by means of the accepted resolution by parliamentarian Agnes Wolbert [76]. These resolutions functioned as a boost for the programme, but the targets have not yet been achieved. More recently, the National Prevention Agreement (2018) included the target of having healthy school canteens in 50% of all secondary (vocational) schools, by 2020 [77].
Since 2009, due to the increased governmental support, the Netherlands Nutrition Centre has been able to improve the implementation by introducing school canteen advisors (“Schoolkantine Brigadiers”): nutritionists who visit, advise and support schools and caterers towards a healthier canteen. Besides these advisors, the programme also includes a website with information about how to create a healthier canteen, a roadmap with the steps to follow and examples of healthier canteens; newsletters with inspiring examples and information; and information brochures. A school that has created a healthier canteen also has the possibility to apply for a school canteen award each year. The Healthy School Canteen Programme has evaluated positively in 2013 [73].
Based on practical experiences and further developed scientific insights about for example nudging the need to expand and reformulate the criteria that were used at the time emerged. In response to this need, the Netherlands Nutrition Centre developed in collaboration with experts in the field of nutrition and health behaviour the Guidelines for Healthier Canteens in 2014, and updated them in 2017 [78]. They were based on the Dutch nutritional guidelines, experiences with the Dutch Healthy School Canteen Programme thus far and available research in influencing food choices [73, 78, 79]. The Guidelines for Healthier Canteens are applicable not only to school canteens but also to sports canteens and worksite cafeterias. They aim to support stakeholders creating healthier canteens through three incremental levels: bronze, silver and gold, although only the levels silver and gold are sufficient to be designated a healthier school canteen. The guidelines combine the offer of healthier products (availability) with the promotion and placement of these healthier products (accessibility) (Figure 1.2). In addition, in all healthier canteens,
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