Hello!

13 Comments

So called, ‘Treat foods’ which have been limited in school canteens for the last decade, could be put back on the menu for NSW students soon.

The Sydney Morning Herald is reporting that the state government is considering overhauling the decade-old traffic light food classification scheme to make it better aligned with the controversial national health star rating system.

The current traffic light scheme used in schools and hospitals categorises food into three colour categories based on their nutritional value. Green light foods are high in nutrition and should be promoted, amber light foods have moderate nutritional value and should be sold moderately in appropriate serving sizes, and red light foods are low in nutritional value and should only be sold twice a term.

According to a report by the George Institute for Global Health commission by NSW health, only half of the NSW canteen classifications for ‘treat’ foods match the health star rating for those same foods.

When assessing core foods, the ratings didn’t match up for 30 per cent of products, including dried fruit, plain scones and wraps. These are given a green light under the canteen system but rated less than three health stars.

Under the existing traffic light canteen guidelines, some treats such as salty snacks, snack bars, savoury biscuits and dairy desserts are considered amber or red light foods and should only be served occasionally.

In vast contrast, the George Institute found a significant proportion of foods in these categories, including Smith’s Extra Crunchy Simply Salted chips, Nestle Milo Oatie Bar and Heinz Creamed Rice Vanilla, had a health star rating of 3.5 stars or above. This deems them high in nutritional value and would put them in the green light category in school canteens.

11,500 products across 30 food categories were analysed by the George Institute, to assess how well the health star rating of each product aligned with the traffic light system used in school canteens and hospitals, and the Australian Dietary Guidelines.

The George Institute said the discrepancy between the two food classification systems was partly due to the well-known limitation of the healthy star rating system – it does not take into account serving sizes when calculating the nutritional value of a product.

The report found the health star rating system aligned better with the Dietary Guidelines concepts of core and discretionary foods, than with the traffic light schemes implemented in schools.

Dr Jo Mitchell, NSW Centre for Population Health executive director, said the findings suggested “the amber traffic light is not doing as good a job as the health star rating to differentiate between discretionary and core foods”.

The George Institute recommended that healthy core foods with a health star rating of 3.5 stars and above “can be confidently promoted in public settings as healthier choices”.

Healthy Kids Australia senior dietitian Jane Dibbs said the current traffic light system for school canteens was too general in some categories. “It makes it hard for some canteen managers to know how to categorise particular products.”

Ms Dibbs said it was worth investigating how the health star ratings system could be translated to canteens, but any new guidelines would have to stipulate serving sizes. “I don’t expect the types of foods that are red at the moment would be introduced into school canteens under the health star ratings,” she said.

 

We may get commissions for purchases made using links in this post. Learn more.
  • As long as they option’s are pretty good for your kids and not just junk food i think it shouldn’t matter

    Reply

  • I can see there being a lot of differences of opinion within the medical profession regarding this. They wiull have to take into consideration individual’s special medical necessity diets. For some, wraps with the right fillings than a lot of other products are. Not all wraps have “bad” ingredients in them. Some of them are healthier than some of the good breads.

    Reply

  • Why does it have to be so complicated!

    Reply

  • This is far too confusing for everyone. Food choices for our kids should be simplified as much as possible.

    Reply

  • Sounds very confusing.so long as they make things healthier for kids

    Reply

  • Sounds like a confusing system

    Reply

  • Canteen managers have a tough job!


    • yeah so do parents but i try to stick to as close to raw and natural as i can get

    Reply

  • It’s no wonder parents are confused!

    Reply

  • Such a hard thing to manage, but lets hope they make to work as the health of our kids is so important.

    Reply

  • How ridiculous can this all get. To be honest a pie (even low fat) to me does not hold the same nutritional value as having a healthy chicken and salad wrap. Yet both could potentially end up under the Green Light category.

    Reply

  • As it is I find it so difficult to gone up with healthy fun and exciting for the lunchbox and canteen lunch order is just a treat for my little one.

    Reply

  • I agree a review would be good but I don’t think it should be aligned with the health star ratings as it really doesn’t seem to accurately portray the health of foods.
    I understand canteens are only allowed to provide ‘red light’ foods twice a term but I actually wonder if they should be providing soft drinks at all. A number of times, my child has come home with a note for a ‘special’ lunch order day with set lunch of say a sausage sandwich and can of soft drink as the only option. We try and avoid soft drinks all together but it’s a bit hard when that’s all they’re offering.

    Reply

Post a comment
Add a photo
Your MoM account


Lost your password?

Enter your email and a password below to post your comment and join MoM:

You May Like

Loading…

Looks like this may be blocked by your browser or content filtering.

↥ Back to top

Thanks For Your Star Rating!

Would you like to add a written rating or just a star rating?

Write A Rating Just A Star Rating
Join