ILOILO City – School canteens should serve nutritious food only as stated in Department of Education’s (DepEd) “Policy and Guidelines on Healthy Food and Beverage Choices in Schools and in DepEd Offices.”
But not all schools were complying with Department Order (DO) No. 13, Series of 2017, according to DepEd Western Visayas assistant director Victor de Gracia Jr.
Several school canteens still sold junk food, he said citing information reaching DepEd Region 6. He, however, did not give figures and neither did he identify these schools.
Some school canteens may have opted to sell even not-so-nutritious food because of the high demand for these by the students themselves, theorized de Gracia.
There were two million enrollees in public and private elementary and high schools (Kindergarten to Grade 12) in Region 6, DepEd-6 data showed.
DO No. 13 is a detailed guideline promoting healthy eating habits among young learners by restricting the school marketing, sale and consumption of food and beverage products that are too fat, too sweet or too salty.
It specifically enumerates healthier food and beverage choices, and introduces a system of categorizing locally available food and drinks (red, yellow and green categories).
Those listed in the green category should always be available in school canteens. Those classified as yellow should be served carefully, and those categorized as red are not recommended in the canteen menu.
De Gracia said good nutrition should start at home.
“If children are used to consuming nutritious food at home, they would most likely patronize these same food offered in school canteens,” he said.
DepEd-6 has a roving team monitoring school canteens and calling the attention of non-compliant schools.
“Instead of emphasizing the penalty aspect of the violation, we focus on encouraging compliance. However, repeated violation would certainly affect the school’s performance rating during evaluations” said de Gracia.
Examples of food and drinks in the green category listed in DO No. 13 were: unsweetened milk, safe and clean water, fresh buko water, rice, corn, whole wheat bread, cassava, boiled sweet potato, boiled saba, boiled peanuts, suman, puto, fishes, shellfish, small shrimps, lean meats, chicken without skin, nuts, eggs and fresh fruits in season.
Among the food and drinks in the yellow category were: 100 percent fresh fruit juices, fried rice, bread, biscuits, banana cue, camote cue, turon, maruya, pancakes, waffles, champorado, pancit, arroz caldo, sandwiches, processed foods (subject to evaluation of saturated or transfat and sodium content), stir-friend vegetables.
On the other hand, examples of food and drinks in the red category under DO No. 13 were: soft drinks, alcoholic drinks, sports waters, sports drinks, flavored mineral water, energy drinks, sweetened waters, powdered juice drinks, any products containing caffeine, any processed fruit/vegetable juice with added sugar of more than 20 grams or 4 teaspoons per serving, any jelly, ice crushes and slushies, any ice cream, ice drops and ice candies, cakes and slices, donuts, sweet biscuits and pastries, chocolates, hard/chewy candies, chewing gums, marshmallows, lollipops, yema, French fries, bicho-bicho, instant noodles, all types of heavily salted snacks such as chips or chichiria, chicharon, chicken skin, bacon, deep-friend foods including fish balls and kikiams, canned fruits in heavy syrup, sweetened fruits, deep-fried vegetables./PN
