School Nutrition Policies in Prince Edward Island

1. School Nutrition Policies in Prince Edward Island Dr Jennifer Taylor Associate Professor Department of Family & Nutritional Sciences Co-Chair, PEI Healthy Eating Alliance

2. Where it all began…

3. PEI Timeline: Elementary School Nutrition Policy Development, Implementation and Evaluation Children’s food survey Ont vs PEI survey School Food Survey School Food Survey School policy adherence 2002 2005 2003 2006 2001 Elementary School Nutrition Policy Development Elementary School Nutrition Policy Full Implementation Tremblay & Willms Report on Childhood Obesity

4. In 2002, PEI Children Had Poor Eating Habits • Too little: Milk Products, Vegetables & Fruit • Too much: Soft drinks French fries High fat/sugary snacks Evers, Taylor, Manske, & Midgett, 2001; Taylor, Bradley, & Peacock, 2003

5. Before PEI had nutrition policies in schools (2002)… • 68% sold regular hot dogs • >90% sold pepperoni pizza, chicken nuggets • 67% that had canteens sold chips • 4/5 foods in vending machines were unhealthy • 54% schools used food for fundraising

6. It is critical that schoolsare not part of the “obesigenic environment”

7. Elementary Nutrition Policy Development:From the Bottom Up • Dept Health contracted with HEA to develop policies • Schools without cafeterias • School district level • 17 “Lead” schools across the province

8. Allowing Schools to Talk and Have Input Throughout the Process… • Increased Ownership AND started the change process: • “Thank you for listening and I really hope this is something you could help us turn into policy and action.” • “It was great to see how other schools deal with these issues.” • “[We appreciated]….the interaction between other schools and realizing that the same problems are everywhere.”

9. Allowing Schools to Talk and Have Input Throughout the Process… • Increased “expert” understanding of the school change process • Helped identify policy elements most likely to make a difference AND most likely to be implementable

10. “.....I don’t think we can make drastic changes, I think it’s a process, I think we need to keep working and make a few changes....it’s a process of 2-3-4 years for schools...because it’s better slowly...than to go quickly and then miss the boat...” • Principal, from Freeze, 2006.

11. PEI Elementary Policy Elements • Same policy was adopted 2005/06 by all 3 school districts (province wide) • Elements: • 1. Nutrition Education • 2. Student Access to food • 3. Quality of Food Available

12. Availability of Healthy Food Choices • 4 food based lists • Why? • No cafeterias; volunteer lunch programs/canteens • Concern that complicated policies would impede adherence • Avoid complete bans on foods (Satter approach)

16. Support for Implementation

17. Support for Implementation • Challenges: • Role clarification needed: HEA vs School Districts • Inadequate staff resources • No community dietitians assigned to schools • Sustainability of networking meetings: costly due to teacher substitute fees

18. What?!...An “F”??

19. But…positive change is already happeningCanteens: 2002 vs.2005 ** * * p<0.05 ** p<0.001

20. Foods Sold at Lunch: 2002-2005 * * p<0.05

21. Issues • Bottom up approach has been effective re: “buy in” • Bottom up + top down needed • Policy revision, then provincial adoption • Funding, sustainability

22. Conclusions Political will, public focus on acute care an ongoing challenge Intermediate/Senior High policies in development; will have nutrient rather than food based standards

23. Acknowledgements Thanks to schools and teachers!