Healthy school canteen guidelines issued

This year programme organised for June 'National Nutrition Month,' held annually by the Ministry of Health and Media, to improve the nutritional status of the people, was held today (22) at the Colombo Medical Faculty Auditorium.

The 'Healthy School Canteen Guideline' was officially launched at the ceremony held under the patronage of Health and Media Minister Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa.

In collaboration with the technical contribution of the Nutrition Division of the Ministry of Health and Media and the coordination of the Ministry of Education, Higher Education and Vocational Education, the main objective of this guideline is to create 'student-friendly school canteens' that provide nutritious, safe, and affordable food to children through school canteens, the Ministry stated.

This guideline comprises 5 main objectives. Providing the country with a healthy school generation possessing proper nutrition and free from the risk of non-communicable diseases, supplying tasty, nutritious, and healthy food to school students, developing correct attitudes to create proper dietary habits and behaviours among school children, socialising these correct dietary habits through the school child, and properly maintaining canteens while ensuring their hygiene are the objectives.

Strict decisions and measures must be taken to find successful solutions to the rapidly growing nutritional problems in the country, Minister Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa stated while speaking here.

When food regulations were issued in the past, companies that sponsored various projects in schools refrained from doing so, the Minister pointed out, emphasising that a decision must be made whether to continue giving harmful food to children to cover project expenses or to think about the nutrition of children who will contribute to the development of the country in a few decades.

Ministry of Health and Media Additional Secretaries Dr. Champika Wickramasinghe and Dr Kumar Wickramasinghe, Deputy Director General Dr. Vindya Kumarapeli, World Health Organisation (WHO) Regional Advisor Dr. Angela de Silva, UNICEF Representative in the country Emma Brigham, Nutrition Division Director Dr. Monica Wijeratne, Community Physician Arundika Senaratne, and Dr.Manoji Gamage participated in this ceremony.