Child care centres - what's on the menu?

Issue addressed: As more children are cared for in child care centres it becomes increasingly important that food offered in this setting provides for the nutrition needs of young children. However local and international studies have shown that food available in child care settings may not provide adequate nutrition. Good Food for Children (GFFC) was a multi-strategic intervention aimed at improving the nutritional adequacy of food provided in child care centres. This paper outlines the implementation and evaluation of this intervention. Methods: The evaluation of the GFFC intervention used a quasi- experimental design. Before and after the intervention, menus from 40 intervention and 19 control long day care centres were assessed for nutritional adequacy by comparing them to a menu checklist. For intervention centres, feedback was given to each centre on the adequacy of their menus and workshops conducted to assist staff improve their centre's menu. Results: Between pre- and post-test, significant improvements were seen in the nutritional adequacy of intervention centre menus, reflected in the types of food offered; there was a 45 per cent increase in the number of centres with adequate serves of dairy foods on their menu, a 21 per cent increase in the number of centres with adequate serves of bread or cereals and a 36 per cent increase in the number of centres that diluted fruit juice before serving. Control centres showed no significant improvement. Conclusions: The GFFC intervention improved LDDC menus and consequently the nutritional quality of food available to children attending these centres. So what? The baseline data obtained during this intervention justifies the need for interventions to improve the nutritional quality of food in child care. The evaluation results show GFFC intervention was effective in improving the nutritional quality of food available to children in these settings. Similar interventions are likely to be worthwhile implementing in other areas. The evaluation instrument used (menu checklist) appears to be an effective tool to assess LDDC menus. It warrants further investigation and validation. (author abstract)