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CMAJ Free lunch is a good thing for children
T
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he plate of food in the suggested Duncan, who said picture looked more that Canada needs a comprelike something you hensive school nutrition prowould see in a fancy restaurant gram. than in a school cafeteria. Yet “Ensuring every child can this was indeed a lunch for a develop to his or her full school child. A lunch that was potential should be everyhot, balanced and nutritious. one’s concern,” said Duncan. What’s more, it is free for Indeed, school food should every student, regardless of be a fundamental building their family’s financial situablock of a wider national food tion. The only catch: you have strategy, said Diana Bronson, to live in Sweden. executive director of Food Sweden’s school lunch proSecure Canada, an alliance of gram, enshrined in the counorganizations and individuals try’s Education Act in 1997, working to advance food was viewed with envy by many security and sovereignty. attending a session called “Even if we don’t agree “School Food: Hungry to on many other things, it is Learn” on Nov. 25 at the Chamobvious and essential to recpioning Public Health Nutrition ognize the importance of conference, held by the Centre kids eating well in school,” for Science in the Public Intersaid Bronson. est in Gatineau, Quebec. In Canada, however, most Though the quality of the programs that provide meals free meals varies across the to hungry students rely on country, the food is generally charities, noted Bronson. fresh. No packets, no cartons, School children in Sweden get a hot lunch every day; in Canada There has been no national an estimated 306 000 children and youth are in families that rely no cans. It is served on proper on food banks. assessment of these proplates with proper cutlery. In grams. Nobody has estabmost schools, there are no soft basic nutritional needs, and far too lished best practices or figdrinks or desserts. And the teachers in many go to school without breakfast. ured out if a model like Sweden’s lunch the cafeteria are not there to monitor According to Food Banks Canada, program would work in Canada or if the children, but rather to join them. nearly 850 000 Canadians rely on food something different is needed. “The school meal should be an intebanks every month, and 36% of those Bronson did suggest, though, that a grated part of the school day, a time for helped are children and youth. school food program in Canada should relaxation, a time for regeneration, a time “I think it is absolutely abhorrent be universal, like the health care system. for a nice meal in a nice environment so that any child would go to school hunIt is not true, she noted, that only chilthat you are able to learn for the rest of gry in a country as wealthy as Canada, dren from low-income families go to the day,” said Emma Patterson, a paneland that our country is one of the only school hungry. A child from a busy midist at the session and project manager for developed countries without a student dle-class home with two working parSkolmatSverige.se, a web-based system nutrition program,” said Duncan. ents may also often go without breakin Sweden that helps schools evaluate It is well known, Duncan noted, that fast. A universal system also reduces the the quality of the lunches they provide. hunger affects a child’s behaviour. It stigma of accepting free meals. Fellow panelist Member of Parliaaffects concentration, creativity and “But above all,” said Bronson, “the ment (Etobicoke North), Kirsty Dunproblem-solving. A nutritious diet, on reason we need a universal program is can, painted a very different picture for the other hand, reduces absenteeism because food is a human right.” — Canada. Hundreds of thousands of while improving grades and graduation Roger Colllier, CMAJ Canadian children rely on food banks, rates. Providing meals to students should she said. Many struggle to meet their be seen as an investment, not a cost, CMAJ 2015. DOI:10.1503/cmaj.109-4952
©2015 8872147 Canada Inc. or its licensors
CMAJ, January 6, 2015, 187(1)
E11
CMAJ Free lunch is a good thing for children
T
Stockbyte/Thinkstock
he plate of food in the suggested Duncan, who said picture looked more that Canada needs a comprelike something you hensive school nutrition prowould see in a fancy restaurant gram. than in a school cafeteria. Yet “Ensuring every child can this was indeed a lunch for a develop to his or her full school child. A lunch that was potential should be everyhot, balanced and nutritious. one’s concern,” said Duncan. What’s more, it is free for Indeed, school food should every student, regardless of be a fundamental building their family’s financial situablock of a wider national food tion. The only catch: you have strategy, said Diana Bronson, to live in Sweden. executive director of Food Sweden’s school lunch proSecure Canada, an alliance of gram, enshrined in the counorganizations and individuals try’s Education Act in 1997, working to advance food was viewed with envy by many security and sovereignty. attending a session called “Even if we don’t agree “School Food: Hungry to on many other things, it is Learn” on Nov. 25 at the Chamobvious and essential to recpioning Public Health Nutrition ognize the importance of conference, held by the Centre kids eating well in school,” for Science in the Public Intersaid Bronson. est in Gatineau, Quebec. In Canada, however, most Though the quality of the programs that provide meals free meals varies across the to hungry students rely on country, the food is generally charities, noted Bronson. fresh. No packets, no cartons, School children in Sweden get a hot lunch every day; in Canada There has been no national an estimated 306 000 children and youth are in families that rely no cans. It is served on proper on food banks. assessment of these proplates with proper cutlery. In grams. Nobody has estabmost schools, there are no soft basic nutritional needs, and far too lished best practices or figdrinks or desserts. And the teachers in many go to school without breakfast. ured out if a model like Sweden’s lunch the cafeteria are not there to monitor According to Food Banks Canada, program would work in Canada or if the children, but rather to join them. nearly 850 000 Canadians rely on food something different is needed. “The school meal should be an intebanks every month, and 36% of those Bronson did suggest, though, that a grated part of the school day, a time for helped are children and youth. school food program in Canada should relaxation, a time for regeneration, a time “I think it is absolutely abhorrent be universal, like the health care system. for a nice meal in a nice environment so that any child would go to school hunIt is not true, she noted, that only chilthat you are able to learn for the rest of gry in a country as wealthy as Canada, dren from low-income families go to the day,” said Emma Patterson, a paneland that our country is one of the only school hungry. A child from a busy midist at the session and project manager for developed countries without a student dle-class home with two working parSkolmatSverige.se, a web-based system nutrition program,” said Duncan. ents may also often go without breakin Sweden that helps schools evaluate It is well known, Duncan noted, that fast. A universal system also reduces the the quality of the lunches they provide. hunger affects a child’s behaviour. It stigma of accepting free meals. Fellow panelist Member of Parliaaffects concentration, creativity and “But above all,” said Bronson, “the ment (Etobicoke North), Kirsty Dunproblem-solving. A nutritious diet, on reason we need a universal program is can, painted a very different picture for the other hand, reduces absenteeism because food is a human right.” — Canada. Hundreds of thousands of while improving grades and graduation Roger Colllier, CMAJ Canadian children rely on food banks, rates. Providing meals to students should she said. Many struggle to meet their be seen as an investment, not a cost, CMAJ 2015. DOI:10.1503/cmaj.109-4952
©2015 8872147 Canada Inc. or its licensors
CMAJ, January 6, 2015, 187(1)
E11
