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is Professor of Health Promotion and Scientific Director of the Healthy Populations Institute at . is a PhD candidate in Geography at the
As summer winds down and a new school year begins, the conversation about food in schools is once again heating up.
In June, Sen. Art Eggleton tabled a motion .
He is not the first senator to have made this call. Back in 1997, the made the recommendation 鈥渢o create a national school nutrition program鈥� but no action was ever taken. In 2015, advocated 鈥渇or childcare facility and school programs related to breakfast and lunch programs鈥� and nutrition literacy courses.鈥�
A universal, national school food program would make sure that all students from kindergarten to Grade 12 have the same access to healthy food in school.
. So what needs to happen to make this a reality?
A patchwork of programs
Canada is lagging behind other high-income countries in providing nutritious food to children.
In a published last year, Canada ranked 37th out of 41 countries on access to nutritious food for children. That is below the United States.
One reason for this is Canada鈥檚 patchwork of programs that serve only a fraction of kids. Funding for programs comes from several different stakeholders, including provincial and territorial governments, municipal governments and charities. This contrasts sharply with school food programs in other countries.
In Brazil for example, food is a constitutional right, which means that a national program feeds .
The benefits are multiple, not only improving student nutrition, health and social development, but providing wider employment. The program supports local food systems and regional economic development, since 30 per cent of food purchased for the program comes from small family farms.
In Italy, school meals are a central part of education about national culture and health. In Rome, These are also local or regional foods, making school meals a local economic growth strategy as well.
In Finland, school lunches, which are free for all students,
It鈥檚 time for action
These international examples illustrate how healthy food provision is prioritized elsewhere in the world. This pays off through an impressive return on investment for school food programs 鈥� of .
Because children鈥檚 eating habits are more easily influenced than those of adults, interventions aimed at children are also more likely to have the potential to reduce future health-care costs.
Children spend on average six to seven hours or 50 per cent of their time awake at school which makes schools the ideal medium for instilling lifelong eating habits .
Public support for a national program is growing. Martha O鈥機onnor, former director general of the now defunct Breakfast for Learning Program affirms that Strategic investment in a national school nutrition program is an investment in the future of all Canadians.鈥�
Political will is essential for a national school food program to become a reality. And Eggleton鈥檚 motion is catalyzing this important conversation about the state of children鈥檚 health in Canada.
Soda tax as revenue
Growing rates of diabetes, obesity and heart disease among Canada鈥檚 population are unsustainable. , comprised of 40 organizations across Canada, estimates that a national, universal healthy school food program would cost $1.8 billion per year.
The Coalition is calling on the Government of Canada to initially invest $360 million, through provincial and territorial transfers, in healthy school food programs.
The eventual goal would be universal coverage, through a cost-shared model of joint investments from the federal, provincial, territorial and municipal governments, as well as some investment from not-for-profits and parents where applicable.
The United Kingdom recently implemented a promising strategy of directing the revenue from a to fund school food programs. Diabetes Canada, the Heart and Stroke Foundation and the Childhood Obesity Foundation .
A soda tax could produce $1.7 billion in annual revenue for Canada, just short of the Coalition鈥檚 estimate to fund a national school food program.
Given the 鈥� a cost estimated at $190 billion each year 鈥� a $1.8 billion investment in the health of our next generation is surely a small price to pay?
The cost of implementing a national school food program will pay for itself through .
Schools have a strong history of successful public health intervention and a national school food program is a critical investment that we all can support. It鈥檚 a no-brainer.
Read the on The Conversation.
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