Check on food served at school canteens

THE new healthy canteen food guidelines which was supposed to be implemented on the first day of school this year has been delayed. Even so, the existing guidelines have not been properly implemented.

Consuming nutritious food plays a preventative role with regards to nutrition-related conditions such as obesity and diabetes but some school canteens openly flout the guidelines.

As a Form Six student of a well known secondary school in Klang , Selangor, I would like to highlight the types of food that we students are expected to buy and consume from the school canteen.

Although the school has three canteens, the variety of the food offered is limited as we’re subjected to only fried and unhealthy food.

All three canteens, I must reiterate serve food that flouts the guidelines. Rice, mee hoon, mee, kuey teow, silver needle noodles ( lao shu fen), nasi lemak, chicken rice, burger, mee soup, mee curry, mee kicap, different types of breads and pastries, with an additional vegetable dish or two everyday.

In addition, fried chicken, fried sausage, nuggets and traditional local teatime snacks such as sugared doughnuts, curry puffs and kuih are sold daily.

Meanwhile, the school cooperative stocks up on junk food and canned drinks that contain artificial flavouring.

In short, almost all the food offered is either fried, or processed with hardly any vegetables or fresh fruits.

I am comparing the food served at the canteen of the school with the wide variety of healthy food available at the canteen of my previous school.

School authorities were strict and made sure that canteen operators complied with the guidelines.

As a result, fresh fruits, fresh juices as well as mixed rice that included a good variety of vegetables that we could choose were available for students to buy and eat.

Numerous complaints about the unhealthy food sold in my current school’s canteen have gone unheeded.

In fact it should be a priority as the students’ wellbeing is of utmost importance. Moreover, with the number of health issues related to obesity, the matter can no longer be ignored.

I hope that measures would soon be taken to put an end to the unhealthy food served and sold in school canteens which I am told is rampant in the Klang Valley.

Eating habits are usually formed at a young age and if students keep eating unhealthy food, they will be prone to diabetes, hypertension and other heart-related diseases,

As they say “you are what you eat”, and the type of food we eat has a direct influence on our growth patterns, energy levels and academic performance.

It is about time the Education Ministry and health authorities work together to resolve the matter. High school student Via e-mail