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Right: Diet police? Parents have reacted angrily to some schools' inspections of home-packed school lunch boxes.

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Arguments against schools monitoring student lunches

1. School monitoring of students' lunchboxes can alienate parents and distress children
Opponents of schools attempting to regulate what parents feed their children argue that this is seen as an intrusion by parents and can be upsetting for children.
One of the concerns parents express is that schools criticising what parents feed their children creates confusion and distress for children who are confronted by conflicting sources of authority. One United States mother has described sending her child to a pre-school program with a lunch that contained a turkey and cheese sandwich, a banana, apple juice and potato chips. A state inspector assessing the pre-K program at the school said the girl also needed a vegetable. The mother claims her daughter was so intimidated by the inspection process that she was too scared to eat all her homemade lunch. https://www.nccivitas.org/2012/state-inspectors-searching-childrens-lunch-boxes-this-isnt-china-is-it/ Another United States mother recalled a similar experience when her ten-year-old daughter's teacher instructed her to throw her crackers out because they were unhealthy and advised her to eat more fruit and vegetables. The girl was subsequently teased by other students over her eating habits and the mother visited the school to complain to the principal. https://www.nccivitas.org/2012/state-inspectors-searching-childrens-lunch-boxes-this-isnt-china-is-it/https://www.ellynsatterinstitute.org/family-meals-focus/55-school-nutrition-horror-stories/ A spokesperson for the Ellyn Satter Institute (a United States organisation promoting healthy family nutrition) has stated, 'Excellent nutrition education in the schools supports and works with parents. It does not circumvent, undermine, or criticize them, directly or indirectly through their children.' https://www.nccivitas.org/2012/state-inspectors-searching-childrens-lunch-boxes-this-isnt-china-is-it/https://www.ellynsatterinstitute.org/family-meals-focus/55-school-nutrition-horror-stories/https://www.ellynsatterinstitute.org/family-meals-focus/55-school-nutrition-horror-stories/
Parents also doubt that teachers have the right to attempt to determine what their children will eat and have criticised them for what is seen as highhanded behaviour. In one Western Australian school a letter was sent home to parents indicating that items such as lollies, chocolates and potato chips would be confiscated from student lunchboxes and not returned till the end of the school day. The letter stated, 'If your child has chosen to make inappropriate food choices for their lunch they will not be provided with an alternative.' https://au.news.yahoo.com/leaked-school-letter-ignites-junk-food-row-25568989.html Lisa Wolff, the website editor of Mouths of Mums, has stated, 'What gives the teacher the right to judge what is or isn't good for our kids... Our mums feel strongly that teachers need to focus on what they're good at - teaching our kids - and leave the lunchbox alone.' https://au.news.yahoo.com/leaked-school-letter-ignites-junk-food-row-25568989.htmlhttps://www.heraldsun.com.au/education/parents-slam-teachers-over-school-lunch-box-bans/news-story/683492d192e63e61b146be263d4055d1 In an opinion piece published in The Herald Sun on March 3. 2021, Suzie O'Brien quoted a range of complaints posted on Facebook from parents who believe that teachers are wrongfully intruding in what is a family matter. One parent was quoted as saying, 'What gives teachers the right to take food or say no to the items us parents pack?' Another parent stated, 'I don't think anyone, including teachers, should have a say in what you feed your own child (unless allergies are involved).' https://au.news.yahoo.com/leaked-school-letter-ignites-junk-food-row-25568989.htmlhttps://www.heraldsun.com.au/education/parents-slam-teachers-over-school-lunch-box-bans/news-story/683492d192e63e61b146be263d4055d1https://www.heraldsun.com.au/education/parents-slam-teachers-over-school-lunch-box-bans/news-story/683492d192e63e61b146be263d4055d1 Another parent responded to a Western Australian school's attempts to regulate what her child ate with, 'How about I feed my kid whatever I want and you mind your own business....' https://au.news.yahoo.com/leaked-school-letter-ignites-junk-food-row-25568989.htmlhttps://www.heraldsun.com.au/education/parents-slam-teachers-over-school-lunch-box-bans/news-story/683492d192e63e61b146be263d4055d1https://www.heraldsun.com.au/education/parents-slam-teachers-over-school-lunch-box-bans/news-story/683492d192e63e61b146be263d4055d1https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-9199479/Parents-slam-lunchbox-police-ridiculous-confusing-rules.html A further Western Australian mother stated, 'I informed the school that when they buy, make and pack my kids' lunchboxes, then and only then can they dictate to me, their parent, what my child can and [can't] eat.' https://au.news.yahoo.com/leaked-school-letter-ignites-junk-food-row-25568989.htmlhttps://www.heraldsun.com.au/education/parents-slam-teachers-over-school-lunch-box-bans/news-story/683492d192e63e61b146be263d4055d1https://www.heraldsun.com.au/education/parents-slam-teachers-over-school-lunch-box-bans/news-story/683492d192e63e61b146be263d4055d1https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-9199479/Parents-slam-lunchbox-police-ridiculous-confusing-rules.htmlhttps://www.watoday.com.au/national/western-australia/lunchbox-policing-wa-schools-crackdown-on-unhealthy-food-20170531-gwhb8w.html
Claire Tanner, the lead author of a 2019 University of Melbourne study of schools' attempts to regulate students' lunches, stated, 'Rigid school rules and surveillance of childhood eating at school can produce feelings of frustration, concern, worry, upset and anger for families, and feelings of worry, embarrassment, fear and shame for children.' The University of Melbourne study found in some cases, photos of children with 'good' and 'bad' lunch boxes were circulated around the school to teach others what to bring and what not to bring. Young students were also singled out by teachers and given yard duties or penalty points for having the wrong food, the study found. Parents expressed anger and frustration at what they saw as the stigmatising treatment of their children. https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/parents-clashing-with-teachers-over-unhealthy-lunch-boxes/news-story/46584b298e7a2f37aa5aeeecc7b9a424
A similar study conducted by a Monash University team in 2020 found that the negative and punitive approach taken by many schools meant that children and parents dismiss the healthy eating information being supplied as irrelevant to the home setting. The study's lead author, Professor Jane Maree Maher, stated that parents rejected the moral 'assumptions that if "unhealthy" foods are in a lunchbox then children have made bad choices and parents are not caring enough to provide healthy food'. https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/kids-dont-like-being-told-by-schools-what-they-should-be-eating-new-study-finds/news-story/f81aa10030f5a09119b4fabf8d31afea
It has further been suggested that where poverty restricts what parents are able to supply as lunches for their children, then the strict enforcement of school rules regarding food worsens the situation for parents and children and serves to create embarrassment and ill feeling. A 2018 survey of 1,000 Australian parents showed that 22 percent of children under the age of 15 live in a household that has run out of food at some stage over the past year. One in five children affected go to school without eating breakfast at least once a week, while one in 10 go a whole day at least once a week without eating anything at all. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-04-15/report-shows-one-in-five-children-suffer-from-food-insecurity/9653532 A former nurse and widowed mother of four children interviewed by the ABC, in April 2019, stated, 'Sometimes the kids would go to school with no lunch. There would always be something on the table at night, but it might not have been as nutritious as it should have been.' Thirty-six percent of parents surveyed in 2018 said they would skip a meal at least once a week so their children could eat, while 29 percent would go a whole day at least once a week without eating at all. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-04-15/report-shows-one-in-five-children-suffer-from-food-insecurity/9653532https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-04-15/report-shows-one-in-five-children-suffer-from-food-insecurity/9653532 Critics have noted that in circumstances such as these, the enforcement of school rules around what students should eat for lunch is not appropriate.

2. Schools healthy eating guidelines to parents are often unclear and not accepted by parents
In addition to questioning schools' right to regulate what families supply for children's lunches, some parents complain that the regulations given them are confusing and unclear.
Such complaints were made regarding a Western Australian school where students were sent home a list of foods that were 'recommended' for lunch and foods that were 'not permitted'. Among the sources of confusion was that while 'yoghurt' featured on the recommended list, 'yoghurt pouches/tubes' were also listed on the not permitted list. Among the many complaints, one mother noted, 'You can also get sugar-free all-natural yoghurt in pouches, yet they say no yoghurt pouches.... but yoghurt not in pouches is okay? Maybe it's about packaging, either way it's overkill.' https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-9199479/Parents-slam-lunchbox-police-ridiculous-confusing-rules.html
The above example comes from a school applying the traffic light system. The is a commonly used guideline for healthy choices at schools which categorises foods and drinks according to their nutritional value and is used in many school canteens. Green being the best, and red food - which includes cakes, confectionery, fats, and soft drink - not being recommended. Parents have complained that these rules are inflexible and difficult to apply. For example, one parent has complained that in her child's classroom, 'Organic sugarless zucchini muffins and banana and almond muffins were sent home. Cupcakes were sent home which had less sugar and calorie content than the approved muesli bar.' Another mother complained, 'I got a note for sending chocolate tiny teddies, yet the honey or plain ones were absolutely acceptable.'. https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/parenting/kids/mum-receives-warning-note-from-school-over-bad-food-in-lunch-box/news-story/7d2e9af2d84bb403bab7155746c3939e Another Western Australian mother complained, 'Since when is popcorn not allowed as a snack? It's not nuts, and I personally don't consider it junk! I have no idea what to put in her bloody lunchbox beside a sandwich.' https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/parenting/kids/mum-receives-warning-note-from-school-over-bad-food-in-lunch-box/news-story/7d2e9af2d84bb403bab7155746c3939ehttps://www.watoday.com.au/national/western-australia/lunchbox-policing-wa-schools-crackdown-on-unhealthy-food-20170531-gwhb8w.html
It has also been noted that not only are the regulations applied at individual schools difficult to understand and apply, but regulations vary between schools, making it hard for parents with children at several schools to adhere to the different requitements. In a Channel Nine mother's segment written by Jo Abi, the author noted, 'It doesn't help that each school has come up with a different set of rules, so if your children attend different schools, it is highly likely that you will confuse them.' https://honey.nine.com.au/mums/school-lunches-rules/502a88a6-a9ef-41cc-a3f3-cb350b7d7cbf
It has further been claimed that in addition to state and school food guideline sometimes being confusing, schools do not always consistently apply the guidelines they seek to have parents and students follow. On January 9, 2019, The Conversation published an article by Jane Martin, Executive Manager of the Obesity Policy Coalition, and Senior Fellow, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences at The University of Melbourne. Dr Martin stressed the important role for governments and by extension schools in helping to educate parents regarding healthy diets for their children. She stressed the dangers associated with misleading packaging and advertising which disguise unhealthy ingredients in products marketed as suitable for children. However, Dr Martin argues that current eating guidelines are not sufficiently clear or consistent. She states, 'Schools need consistent guidelines and policies that support children and parents in making healthy choices. With a lack of consistent messaging and leadership, it's no wonder there is confusion about what is healthy.' She cites as an example, 'Children are exposed to pervasive and persistent junk food marketing through TV, social media or on their way to school. Then at school, there are mixed messages about what they should eat - some schools enforce no lolly policies yet use lollies in school fundraisers.' https://theconversation.com/lets-untangle-the-murky-politics-around-kids-and-food-and-ditch-the-guilt-108328
Overall, it appears that communication with parents is unsatisfactory and that parents do not feel properly informed of what they are being asked to do. Nor does it seem that parents accept the rationale behind some of the regulations being imposed. Inadequate and unclear communication of eating guidelines is likely to make school attempts to improve student eating habits ineffective. A 2019 evaluation of several studies on the impact of school lunchbox interventions on what children eat was inconclusive with some studies reporting some positive impacts and other reporting none. No studies reported any impact on student obesity. https://ijbnpa.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12966-019-0798-1
A study conducted by a Monash University team in 2020 concluded that school guidelines around what should be packed in student lunches were not clear. The study's lead author, Jane Maree Maher stated, 'Generally, children and parents felt school food messages are unclear, contradictory and not relevant to them.' https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/kids-dont-like-being-told-by-schools-what-they-should-be-eating-new-study-finds/news-story/f81aa10030f5a09119b4fabf8d31afea
Critics argue that without clear communication between schools and parents and without parent acceptance of the eating habits being encouraged schools' attempts to regulate student lunches are likely to fail.

3. Schools may be unaware of the food aversions and allergies of particular children
Opponents of schools attempting to regulate what parents feed their children argue that teachers are often unaware of the allergies of individual children or of their personal food preferences.
Susie O'Brien, in an opinion piece published in The Herald Sun on March 3, 2021, stated, 'Many kids also have special needs or are fussy so parents have a hard enough time getting their kids to eat without these harsh restrictions.' https://www.heraldsun.com.au/education/parents-slam-teachers-over-school-lunch-box-bans/news-story/683492d192e63e61b146be263d4055d1 Science Direct has explained that sensory food aversions (SFAs - that is an absolute refusal to eat certain types of food due to either taste or texture issues) are common. Some children refuse to eat a few select foods, whereas others will refuse most foods, only accepting a select few. https://www.heraldsun.com.au/education/parents-slam-teachers-over-school-lunch-box-bans/news-story/683492d192e63e61b146be263d4055d1https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/neuroscience/food-aversion NAPA (the Neurological and Physical Abilitation Centre) has explained that extreme picky eating may actually be a food aversion and that some children with such aversions may be able to eat no more than 30 types of food. Those who are diagnosed as 'problem eaters' eat less than 20 different foods. The Centre recommends that the best way to deal with children with food aversions is 'by providing a positive mealtime experience'. https://www.heraldsun.com.au/education/parents-slam-teachers-over-school-lunch-box-bans/news-story/683492d192e63e61b146be263d4055d1https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/neuroscience/food-aversionhttps://napacentre.com.au/food-aversion/ Positive modelling of eating a wide range of foods, always supplying a 'safe' food the child is prepared to eat and resisting trying to enforce the eating of particular foods are presented as key strategies in helping children expand the range of foods they may be able to eat. Insensitive reactions to a child's food choices and attempts to compel students to eat certain foods are likely to be counterproductive and may induce vomiting and food refusal on the part of the child. https://www.heraldsun.com.au/education/parents-slam-teachers-over-school-lunch-box-bans/news-story/683492d192e63e61b146be263d4055d1https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/neuroscience/food-aversionhttps://napacentre.com.au/food-aversion/https://napacentre.com.au/food-aversion/ Some child experts suggest that food aversions that involve aversions to certain textures of foods may indicate a sensory processing disorder requiring diagnosis and management. https://www.heraldsun.com.au/education/parents-slam-teachers-over-school-lunch-box-bans/news-story/683492d192e63e61b146be263d4055d1https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/neuroscience/food-aversionhttps://napacentre.com.au/food-aversion/https://napacentre.com.au/food-aversion/https://www.verywellhealth.com/how-to-help-children-with-texture-aversions-to-food-1323972 Parenting blogs suggest that overcoming schoolchildren's food aversions is a whole family affair involving trialing new foods 'in the safety of home', making trying new foods fun, rewarding the adoption of new food types and giving lots of praise. https://www.heraldsun.com.au/education/parents-slam-teachers-over-school-lunch-box-bans/news-story/683492d192e63e61b146be263d4055d1https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/neuroscience/food-aversionhttps://napacentre.com.au/food-aversion/https://napacentre.com.au/food-aversion/https://www.verywellhealth.com/how-to-help-children-with-texture-aversions-to-food-1323972https://starlightandstories.com/2017/11/03/tackling-food-aversions-with-a-school-aged-child/ Nutritionists further argue against shaming children over their food choices. Australian Nutritionist, Kelly Fullerton, has stated, 'Shame is debilitating and a violation of our rights. When we've been shamed, we carry a negative burden that shifts thinking about food from being safe to something destructive...Children can develop maladaptive eating behaviours that can prevent them from learning to like new foods. Ultimately, food shame does not improve health and increased anxiety around food decreases appetite and food acceptance.' https://www.heraldsun.com.au/education/parents-slam-teachers-over-school-lunch-box-bans/news-story/683492d192e63e61b146be263d4055d1https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/neuroscience/food-aversionhttps://napacentre.com.au/food-aversion/https://napacentre.com.au/food-aversion/https://www.verywellhealth.com/how-to-help-children-with-texture-aversions-to-food-1323972https://starlightandstories.com/2017/11/03/tackling-food-aversions-with-a-school-aged-child/https://www.thecuriousnutritionist.com.au/childs-teacher-is-the-lunch-box-police/ These arguments suggest the harm potentially done by any bluntly controlling measures schools may attempt to apply when seeking to have children eat more nutritious lunches.
In addition to food aversions, there are a significant number of children who suffer from food allergies. An allergy is when the immune system reacts to a substance (allergen) in the environment which is usually harmless (such as a certain type of food). Symptoms may include hives, swelling of the lips, eyes or face, vomiting or wheeze. An extreme anaphylactic reaction may cause the sufferer to stop breathing and untreated may result in death. https://www.allergy.org.au/patients/food-allergy/food-allergy The Australian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy has stated, 'Food allergy occurs in around 10 percent of infants, 4-8 percent of children, and about 2 percent of adults in Australia and New Zealand.' Peanut, tree nuts, shellfish, fish, sesame, and egg are the most common food allergens in older children and adults. Other triggers such as fruits and vegetables have been described, and almost any food can cause an allergic reaction. https://www.allergy.org.au/patients/food-allergy/food-allergyhttps://www.allergy.org.au/patients/food-allergy/food-allergy Hospital admissions for severe allergic reactions (anaphylaxis) have doubled over the last decade in Australia, the United States of America, and the United Kingdom. In Australia, admissions for anaphylaxis due to food allergy in children aged zero to four years are even higher, having increased five-fold over the same period. https://www.allergy.org.au/patients/food-allergy/food-allergyhttps://www.allergy.org.au/patients/food-allergy/food-allergyhttps://www.allergy.org.au/patients/food-allergy/food-allergy
Food allergies, especially to diary products, wheat products, and certain fruits and vegetables may limit parents' choices when preparing their children's lunches and make it inappropriate for schools to attempt to proscribe certain food groups.

4. Providing free, well-balanced school lunches is more effective than monitoring and prohibiting certain foods
Some opponents of schools attempting to regulate what parents and guardians put in children's lunchboxes argue that a more effective way to ensure students have quality lunches is for the school to supply them.
There have been numerous studies which have claimed that free school lunches perform an important role in helping to guarantee good nutrition in all children, irrespective of economic circumstances. It has also been claimed that these lunches help educate children in healthy eating patterns and educate their food preferences. A study published in 2017 in Critical Reviews in Food and Nutrition argues, 'School meal programs are of particular interest for improving public diet because they reach children at a population scale across socio-economic classes and for over a decade of their lives, and because food habits of children are more malleable than those of adults.' https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10408398.2016.1197180
Similarly, Professor Rebecca Golley from Flinders University, commenting in February 2021, stated that a universal lunch program would help boost health and education outcomes. Professor Golley has argued that Australia should be learning from places like France and Japan, where school lunch programs have led to bolstered health outcomes for children. The Professor has stated, 'We want to see whether there are... options where industry, government and the not-for-profit sector could work together to achieve something more sustainable and more nutritious to support children's health and learning.' https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-02-15/experts-call-for-healthy-lunch-program-across-australian-schools/13153270
In March 2020, The Sydney Morning Herald published a comment by Pasi Sahlberg, a Finnish educator and professor of education policy at the Gonski Institute for Education at the University of New South Wales. Finland provides free, catered hot school meals to all pupils from pre-primary to upper secondary education every school day, as guaranteed by the country's 1948 Basic Education Act. Professor Sahlberg stated, 'Some [Australian] schools offer children breakfast or lunch daily, but the majority have to get by with what's in their lunchbox. My short experience of Australian lunchboxes suggests children don't eat well enough during school days to learn as we parents would expect them to. Some basic facts speak for themselves: only one of 20 school-aged children eat enough vegetables daily.' https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/healthy-children-learn-better-so-why-don-t-we-feed-them-at-school-20200211-p53zp5.html
Professor Sahlberg went on to explain that school lunches are problematic not only because they are not always filled with nutritious food but also because the food that parents and guardians supply may not always be eaten by their children. A freshly cooked, communal school lunch provides a greater incentive for children to eat. Professor Sahlberg noted, 'I live in Sydney with our two school-aged boys. Each evening we parents ask the same question: what to put in their lunchboxes? We pack food we think is healthy, but too often carrots and apples return home uneaten.
Australia is among the wealthiest countries in the world. If we want our children to be the best educated, they need to eat better. There is no better place to do that than school. Finland, Sweden and Estonia are among countries where all children have a nutritious lunch every day for free.' https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/healthy-children-learn-better-so-why-don-t-we-feed-them-at-school-20200211-p53zp5.html
There have been trials of free lunch programs in some Australian states and territories. Currently, the Queensland Greens have as one of their policies 'a universal, free school breakfast and lunch program in every state primary and secondary school in Queensland, to ensure every child has access to a healthy breakfast and lunch.' They have pledged to establish a $1.2 billion fund for state schools to upgrade infrastructure where needed to accommodate the breakfast and lunch program including kitchen facilities and eating areas.
The breakfasts and lunches would be required to adhere to the Australian Dietary Guidelines outlined by the Australian Government to ensure every child has access to a healthy breakfast and lunch. Schools would be resourced to accommodate any dietary or cultural requirements. https://greens.org.au/qld/freelunch
There are advocates for free school lunches in many other countries. Sarah Riggs Stapleton, Assistant Professor, Education Studies, College of Education, University of Oregon, has stated, 'I believe it's our duty in schools to treat students with dignity and compassion. Moreover, access to food is a basic human need and should be considered a right - regardless of income. The best way to [provide good food without shame] in U.S. public schools is to provide every student with free meals.' https://theconversation.com/we-should-serve-kids-food-in-school-not-shame-81787

5. Food education is more effective than monitoring and prohibiting certain foods
Critics of the rigorous monitoring of school lunches argue that it is counter-productive and that education and guidance are more effective. Some critics further argue that for food education to be successful the emphasis in some schools needs to shift and teachers need to be better trained.
Australian nutritionist, Kelly Fullerton, has stated, 'Lunch box policing in schools, while coming from a place of wanting the best for children's health has provoked a backlash from parents and the media. When there's an assumption that eating is easy and that rigid rules will fix unhealthy eating, it...sets children up to be less motivated to eat well and places a great amount of stress on parents doing their best to navigate a very complex food environment as well as help their child/ren establish food skills...
There also seems to be an understanding that a healthy eating policy...is...permission to audit or inspect school lunchboxes on their nutritional content. This practice is highly unethical and not endorsed by government education departments.' https://www.thecuriousnutritionist.com.au/the-solution-to-healthy-eating-without-lunch-box-policing/
Fullerton argues that schools need to educate children to eat properly rather than simply attempt to control the food their parents or guardians place in their lunchboxes. She states, 'The current Australian Curriculum allows for cross-curricular approaches to learning about food, but this needs to be considered in an age-appropriate way. [Put] as many sensory experiences with food education at the forefront of learning. Children do not see nutrition, they see food. Make the food they're not familiar with or still learning to like accessible.' She also suggests that changes need to be made to the whole school environment to encourage positive learning about different foods. She states, 'Schools that have a kitchen garden program are ultimately increasing access to vegetables, improving knowledge ...of food, and promoting the language of food. Experiences in context are extremely powerful enablers. Every food experience that's provided adds up. Classroom celebrations can be an opportunity to add vegetables, sausage sizzles can have salads made by the children from the school garden, tuck-shop menu items can be trialled with children's input.' https://www.thecuriousnutritionist.com.au/the-solution-to-healthy-eating-without-lunch-box-policing/
Fullerton concludes, 'A whole school approach that allows all stakeholders to participate in learning about food with rich and real hands-on practical experiences constructs a foundation of food education that will lead to long term healthy eating.' https://www.thecuriousnutritionist.com.au/the-solution-to-healthy-eating-without-lunch-box-policing/
A similar endorsement of the value of school gardens in educating student food choices has been made by Canadian educators. Sunday Harrison, founder and executive director of Green Thumbs Growing Kids, has stated, 'Research has shown that when children are involved in gardening at their school [they] show a willingness to try new foods, their academic achievement increases (especially in the sciences), and their social and emotional development is supported.' https://peopleforeducation.ca/events/strategies-to-engage-students-in-healthy-eating/
It has further been noted that for schools to successfully educate students about food, there will need to be curriculum changes and further teacher education. On January 7, 2019, The Conversation published an article by Tony Worsley, Chair in Behavioural Nutrition, Deakin University; Janandani Nanayakkara, PhD (Nutrition), Deakin University; and Melissa Burton, PhD student, Deakin University. The article was titled 'Why we need to take food education in Australian schools more seriously' and, though focusing on Australian secondary schools, argued that food education needs to be reformed across the Australian education system. The authors state, 'A growing evidence base, mainly in the US, Canada, western Europe and Australia suggests food literacy and skills education programs lead to greater confidence in performing practical food skills, such as planning and preparing meals, interpreting food labels, basic food safety, food regulations. This, in turn, is associated with healthier dietary choices...
The fundamental question is: Does [the current food curriculum] meet the present and future life needs of students and their families? At present, food education tends to be patchy, with some emphasis on students' acquisition of food preparation skills but lesser coverage of environmental and social issues, marketing practices or family dynamics.
Possible solutions include providing more intensive education about food in university teacher education programs and continuing professional education for food teachers.' https://theconversation.com/why-we-need-to-take-food-education-in-australian-schools-more-seriously-106849