Importance of canteen

Why Canteen is important?

The canteen plays an important role in promoting good nutrition because it can:

 give students a taste for healthy foods

 support nutrition messages taught in class

 show students better choices for lunches and snacks.

What’s missing in the diets of many children and young people?

 Fruit and vegetables – many consume very low amounts of these foods.

 A healthy breakfast – skipping breakfast often leads to snacking on sugary and

fatty foods later in the day.

 Dairy products – many young people aren’t getting 2-3 daily serves of milk,

cheese or yoghurt to provide their calcium needs.

 Drinking enough water – water is the best thirst quencher!

What’s being eaten instead?

 Too many fatty, sugary and salty foods e.g. crisps, hot chips, cakes, pastries,

biscuits, donuts, lollies, chocolates and fi zzy drinks, often in large portion sizes.

These provide too many kilojoules and very little nutrition.

 A poor diet robs young people of their vitality and makes it hard for them to

concentrate and do their best at school.

  Too many high kilojoule foods combined with little physical activity can lead to

overweight and obesity.

Benefits of healthy eating

Good food gives children and adolescents all the nutrients they need to:

 grow and develop

 concentrate and learn well at school

 Stay healthy through childhood and in adult life.

For many students who use the canteen regularly, the food purchased there makes a

significant contribution to their total food intake and nutrition. For those students who do

not use the university canteen or food service regularly, the canteen still plays an

important educational and modeling role for healthy eating habits.

In addition to the provision of nutritious food, the canteen has an important role within

the broader university environment in complementing the knowledge, skills and

behaviors about healthy eating and lifestyles that are taught in the classroom. The food

provided within the university environment has a considerable influence on the

development of children’s long-term eating habits, food preferences and attitudes

towards food.

The university canteen can play an important role in promoting healthy foods and

creating a university culture of healthy eating. This can extend beyond the university
environment and influence food choices within the family and community and enhance

the social and multicultural aspects of food and eating.

Some nutritional issues that affect children include:

 growth

 bone health and development

 dental health

 weight management (overweight and obesity)

 eating disorders and body image

 mood, concentration and learning

 development of food preferences, tastes, eating habits and skills

 promotion of heath and prevention of lifestyle disease

 nutritional adequacy.