Ban on savs, popcorn, chips likely

The Education Ministry is considering a ban on foods including sausages, chips and popcorn in early childhood centres because they pose a high choking risk.

The ministry has told centres it wants to make Health Ministry guidelines on food preparation compulsory to reduce the risk of children choking on their food.

It said under-fives were at higher risk of choking because they had small air and food passages and were still learning how to chew food properly.

Since the start of 2016, the ministry had been alerted to seven cases of choking, including a 22-month-old who suffered severe brain damage.

Ministry guidelines say services should exclude foods that present ‘‘the highest risk of choking and either would not be practical to alter in an early learning service, have no or minimal nutritional value, or both’’.

Those foods were whole or pieces of nuts, large seeds like pumpkin or sunflower, hard or chewy lollies, crisps or chips, hard rice crackers, dried fruit, sausages, saveloys and ‘‘cheerios’’, popcorn and marshmallows.

Other high-risk foods could be altered. For example, raw carrot, apple or celery were difficult for young children to bite into pieces small enough to swallow safely and should be grated for underthree-year-olds and cuts into sticks for older children.

Grapes, berries and cherry tomatoes should be quartered or finely chopped for the youngest children and halved or quartered for older children, while peanut butter should be spread thinly.

The guidelines also said small children should be supervised while eating.

They should sit appropriately without distractions and be asked not to talk with their mouths full.

Early childhood advocate doctor Sarah Alexander investigated the 2016 choking incident that resulted in brain damage and has been lobbying for tighter rules.

She said the ministry’s push for mandatory food regulations would ensure centres were held to account. ‘‘They’re making it crystal clear that if a service unnecessarily puts a child’s life or wellbeing at risk through providing food that is dangerous for the child to eat, that it will now be a breach of regulations,’’ Dr Alexander said.

Choking incidents were relatively common in early childhood services, she said. ‘‘Children being children will jump up and down, it’s very hard sometimes to get them to sit down, to chew properly.’’ – RNZ