Page 16 - ON THE WAY TO HEALTHIER SCHOOL CANTEENS - Irma Evenhuis

Chapter 1. General Introduction
drinking water should be stimulated and an anchoring policy needs to be available.
As a consequence of the development of the Guidelines for Healthier Canteens, the question of how to implement these guidelines in schools arose: in what extent are the supportive tools of the Healthy School Canteen Programme suitable, and how could the programme be improved? Another need also emerged: to determine the level of a canteen in terms of the guidelines in such a way that every stakeholder involved in implementing the guidelines, such as caterer, canteen employee, or school representative, is able to adhere to the guidelines. A tool to assess the level of the canteen independently, and to get automatic insight into directions for improvements, was therefore needed.
Basic Conditions
Bronze
Silver
Gold
1. In each offered food group a healthier product is offered
2. Healthier products are placed at the most eye-catching spots 3. Encouragement to drink water
4. Policy is anchored
Required
Required Offering water is required Required
Additional Conditions
Bronze
Silver
Gold
Fruit and vegetables offer
Availability of healthier food and drinks in cafeteria Availability of healthier food and drinks in vending machines Accessibility of healthier food and drinks
No further require- ments
At least
fruit or vegetables
Fruit and vegetables
60-79% ≥80% 60-79% ≥80% 60-79% ≥80%
Figure 1.2. The Guidelines for Healthier Canteens [78].
Involved stakeholders to create healthier school canteens in the Netherlands
In the Netherlands, multiple stakeholders and organisations at national, local and school level are involved in supporting or implementing the Healthy School Canteen Programme. At the national level, as mentioned previously, the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sports endorses healthier school canteens, and the Netherlands Nutrition Centre has been designated to coordinate the programme. Due to this governmental support, the Netherlands Nutrition Centre is able to offer free support to all Dutch schools. Within the Netherlands Nutrition Centre, a team of school canteen advisors supports schools personally to help them to create a healthier school canteen. This support has been divided into regions of the Netherlands, with an advisor for each region. This facilitates local collaborations, with, for example, Community Health Services and local governments. As there are approximately 1500 secondary schools covering different educational levels in the Netherlands and roughly 95 percent of these schools offer food or drinks to their students, in potential the programme could reach approximately one million students between the ages of 11 and 19 years [80].
A healthier school canteen is also part of the national “Healthy School Concept”, actively promoted by the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM)
14