Food@Work

'Work' by Pierre Metivier
under a CC license

Last week I wrote on food consumption at school. Providing healthy food and in sufficient amounts there is something that few would object to. But what would people think on the need to provide healthy meal options at the workplace? Should be people be allowed, or even, encouraged to eat at work?

Yes, they should be allowed and actively encouraged to healthy (and balanced) nutrition options. Beyond the positive health effects, the associated break may help overall performance, promote the social environment at the workplace and, in brief, make things for employees and their employers better. It is a win-win case, really (although the exact practice to be adopted depends on the case and the economic environment)!

Practical experience, however, suggests that meal customs and provisions at the workplace vary considerably across businesses and regions to anything between no lunch at all and full, three-course meals. What makes it interesting is that scientific evidence has been in favour of lunch breaks for quite some time now, at least partly on the basis of forming healthy eating habits. Having access to (the right) food at work, within a break, also make employees more productive overall.

If it makes any difference, the International Labour Organisation has published a detailed study on the topic. Overall, it calls meals at work "a lost opportunity" since, often, they are either severely limited (or skipped, altogether) or do not encourage healthy/balanced nutrition. The study concludes on a wide set of recommendations for governments, employers, workers and trade unions.

On the other side of the argument, concerns exist regarding the cost - benefit ratio of providing healthy meals at work. A recent study by the Institute of Food and Resource Economics, University of Copenhagen, looking canteen takeaway meals, suggests that the overall benefit is modest compared to the cost, although the practice might be sustainable.

For me, the bottom line is simple: Meals at work are a very good way to keep the adult working population healthy (physically and mentally), productive and happy. The economics of each possible approach are a limiting factor. But there is no need to reach Google's standards in workplace meals (and, yes, they've given some thought on their canteens). but even humble, low cost but carefully thought of meal provision solutions (e.g., access to local shops or canteens) may be adequate, provided the right framework is in place. Such regulations framework could, for example, establish the right of employees to meal breaks, ensure a minimum variety of food offered by workplace business operators, including low-fat, low-salt, fruit and vegetable options, etc.

Food@School

'School canteen drenched
with golden sunlight 3'
by Edmund Yeo
under a CC license

Balanced nutrition is a challenge in most places in the world. Even where food is plenty. School meals and school food, in general, is an important factor for raising a healthy new generation. This applies independent of the actual socioeconomic environment, i.e., irrespective of whether children come from families with limited access to food or have family backgrounds lacking healthy standards in nutrition. Thus, the food supply system in schools (dictated by any "Food@School" policies) needs to aim towards two objectives:

• Offer affordable food providing a wide set of nutrients, at a reasonably sufficient quantity in a balanced fashion, and
• Train children into becoming responsible food consumers, actively seeking for nutrition balance and healthy choices.

As you may be guessing, those are not easy objectives for a variety of reasons, including - in no particular order:

• Elevated costs in providing free or subsidised food
• Limited know-how and/or resources needed to design, promote, implement (and enforce?) healthy school lunches
• Limited know-how and/or resources to support healthy food choices through education
• Low(er) priority at the policy agenda
• Insufficient or unclear regulatory framework
• (Possibly) limited continuity and support of such schemes at the home environment
• Low acceptance by the children of the options offered to them (consumer perception concerns do not only apply in adults!)

Luckily, not all the reasons above apply in all cases. But even having a single of those being applicable can have a detrimental effect in the outcome of any Food@School policies. The good thing is that by addressing any single one of those, the situation in the others is likely to improve - a kind of positive spill-over effect!

Mother Jones (amongst others) has recently featured an inspiring article on Jessica Shelly, the director of food services for Cincinnati's public schools. She, not only managed to meet regulatory guidelines for the formulation of school lunches (such as those dictating the use of whole grains) at a very low cost per meal but effectively altered children's attitude towards healthy food employing simple things such as:

• allowing kids to tailor their meal (salad bar)
• seeking for new recipes that would be part of a healthy and balanced diet but also appeal to kids
• listen to what the kids have to say on the food they consumed through a kind of customer satisfaction programme (all kids can do that and some have been doing it very, very successfully!)
• encourage teachers to join kids while eating, thus using them to set an example of food choices
• changing the name of dishes to make them more marketable

I'm sure that one could also add several more bullet points on the list, such as:

• Involve kids in designing meals or individual food products
• Enhance food science and nutrition training throughout school
• Take advantage of the culture-food links
• Use special events, campaigns, competitions, etc. to keep kids engaged on food and nutrition aspects
• Try to engage the kids' families on balanced nutrition issues

Clearly, not all such changes would be feasible in every school or region. In fact, many schools do not have restaurants but rather canteens - and, even canteens may be a luxury for some places. But Jessica Shelly's moves can be adapted as needed and then adopted in most places, even in a slow and incremental pace.

I'm positive that they will deliver promising results!