Nutritious food in schools pushed

Instead of soft drinks and junk food, schools and canteen operators should be serving nutritious snacks  and meals  for children.
Alternatives need not be expensive.

Malunggay-based bread, native delicacies like “biko” and banana cue  can replace store-bought “chichirya” that’s loaded with sugar and preservatives.

With public schools opening on Monday, the health of young students should be paramount, said the Department of Education in Central Visayas (DepEd-7).

“If  they  just ignore our reminders then school children are vulnerable to loose bowel movement or food poisoning,” said Grace Espos, DepEd-7 nutritionist-dietitian.

She discouraged school canteens from selling sugary soft drinks and junk food.

“If they sell junk food, then they should make sure these are fortified with vitamins, she said.

Instead of selling  juice made from artificial powder,  she said it’s better to prepare juice  from real fruit extracts or fresh sources like “buko” (coconut water).

Malunggay “pan de sal”, for example, is readily available now in local bakeries.

Espos explained that malunggay is high in protein, calcium, Vitamin A, Vitamin B and other minerals that promotes  the growth  of children.

“We encourage each school to plant 50  malunggay trees and other vegetables in the school garden as a source for supplementary feeding,” she added.

She encouraged parents to prepare snacks at home like  camote  or  banana cue, rice cakes, cuchinta, pichi-pichi, palitaw, puto cheese, maruya, siopao .

“Sometimes school children forget our native snacks because they are more exposed to commercial junk food,” she said.

Regional DepEd offices will monitor school canteens with the help of school supervisors and health workers to ensure that operators observe proper sanitation, preparation, storage and handling of food.

School canteens that don’t follow these standards  will be issued warnings, and in some cases,  their license to operate  will be suspended.

The rules  are found in  DepEd’s  manual on Revised Implementing Guidelines on the Operation and Management of School Canteens./ With UP Intern Angeli Sarmiento

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