Science centres across Europe are exploring food issues with young people
We think the health sector should be setting an example, especially as good nutrition aids patient recovery Amy Leech, the Soil Association
institutes – created the PlayDecide discussion game, aimed at 14- to 21-year-olds, questioning them about issues such as eating disorders, food waste, sustainable eating and personal accountability for food choices. According to Ecsite, the results so
far show that the majority of people believe decisions and choices related to lifestyles should be left to citizens, but they think governments should regulate certain areas, such as food labelling and prices, and should support healthy food providers, provide infrastructure and encourage physical activities. Respondents also believed healthy
lifestyles should be part of the school curriculum and that school meals should be carefully chosen.
SCHOOLS With its Food for Life partnership, the Soil Association has been campaigning for better school dinners since 2001. As well as driving up standards of food
October 2014 © Cybertrek 2014
in schools, with a Catering Mark to sign up to, the partnership also educates on cooking and growing food. Currently 20 per cent of schools have signed up to the Catering Mark. According to Amy Leech, senior
policy advisor at The Soil Association, independent evaluation of Food for Life saw a 28 per cent increase in primary school children eating fi ve portions of fruit and vegetables a day. “Working with schoolchildren is incredibly important,” says Leech. “The habits we form in our youth stay with us for life.” It’s encouraging to see that school
meals are high on the government’s agenda, with the implementation of the School Food Plan, including plans to offer universal free school meals to infants, coming into effect from September. Now The Soil Association is aiming to tackle hospital food. “We think the health sector should be setting an example,” says Leech, “especially as good nutrition aids patient recovery.”
HEALTH CLUBS Dave Stalker, CEO of trade association ukactive, argues that there needs to be more emphasis on getting people moving, since being physically active can lessen the chances of serious illness in overweight and obese people. “Obesity is the loud, out-there
issue, but inactivity is the silent killer,” he says. “Obesity will only be truly tackled when the food manufacturers reduce the sugar and fat content in food, so ukactive wants to move away from the obesity debate and engage in a debate on physical inactivity.” According to ukactive, one-quarter of
the UK population are physically inactive and this costs £20bn in public health funding each year. “Focusing on physical inactivity would have a knock-on effect on obesity. It would save the NHS and the health of the nation. You can be fat but still be fi t,” says Stalker. ukactive would like to see a
rebalancing of public health spending, Read Health Club Management online at
healthclubmanagement.co.uk/digital 71
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