Ontario schools ... soon with less fat
January 16, 2010
Louise Brown
EDUCATION REPORTER
Goodbye to gum and cancel the candy.
Ontario will ban the sale of chocolate, gum, candy, licorice, energy bars, pop and popsicles on school property starting in fall 2011 in a bid to help today's increasingly overweight children eat right.
Targeting foods with high levels of sugar, fat and sodium, Queen's Park will remove some guilty pleasures altogether from lunchrooms and vending machines – ice cream, fish and chips, energy drinks, regular pop – but allow up to 20 per cent of offerings that are slightly less harmful, such as enriched bread, light cheese and caffeine-free diet pop. And it gives the green light to foods with no more than 10 grams of fat and 480 milligrams of sodium, such as whole grain pizza, some low-fat potato chips and even some lean hamburger patties. These healthier offerings can fill up to 80 per cent of the sale counter, according to guidelines sent Friday to school boards.
"The reality is, we need to create the healthiest environment possible, given the concerns about childhood obesity," Education Minister Kathleen Wynne said Friday.
The policy is designed to reduce the risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes and some types of cancer.
But what about bake sales and pizza lunches, the backbone of school fundraising?
Schools will be free to take 10 days off the new guidelines each year.
"That's still going to have a huge impact on fundraising because some classes hold food sales to raise money for everything from hockey trips to buying a tree," said Catherine Parsonage, senior manager of nutritional services for the Toronto District School Board, who called the guidelines a "good first step."
"But parents and staff will have to start coordinating food sales on the same day each month."
The guidelines are the latest step in Ontario's move to provide healthy food. In 2004 it banned fast food in vending machines in elementary schools, and in 2008 it banned the sale of food with trans fat in high school.
The new guidelines focus heavily on food labels, so that a pasta sauce is fine if it has no more than three grams of fat and no more than 480 milligrams of sodium – but otherwise, it's a no-no.
Toronto Star