In Japan, a country that boasts one of the lowest childhood obesity rates in the world, school meals and dieticians are provided for the nation’s students.
The Japanese system was one of the successful international examples cited at a federal inquiry this year, as it explored Australia’s production, consumption and export of food.
The parliamentary probe delivered its report in December, calling for the government to consider a national school meals program.
It’s one of 35 recommendations from the agriculture committee, which also wants a national plan for food and a federal minister to implement it.
“There is a sentiment across the nation that we’re saying, ‘where have we gone wrong with food?’,” committee chair and Labor MP Meryl Swanson said.
“We seem to have, on one level, an abundance of inexpensive, high calorific low nutrient food. We also have a lot of people who don’t understand a lot about nutrition and food.”
Should school meals be provided for Australian children?
It’s been more than 10 years since Australia developed a food plan and Swanson believes it’s time for another.
Danielle Gallegos, a professor in food nutrition at the Queensland University of Technology and member of the Public Health Association of Australia, was one of dozens of experts to give evidence.
Professor Gallegos, who has been studying food nutrition for three decades, says meals should be offered in every Australian school.
“They need to be free for families doing it tough,” she told AAP.
Australia, Canada and Denmark are among the only high-income countries in the world that do not provide school meals.
Food insecurity affects children’s ability to learn
Australia also has a long way to go in the nutrition stakes globally.
According to recent Bureau of Statistics data, only four per cent of Australian adults and children eat the recommended amount of fruit and vegetables.
“Our consumption of fruit and vegetables is appalling, and consumption of ultra-processed foods is way too high,” Professor Gallegos said.
Recent research indicates one in six Australian children are going hungry once a fortnight.
Can food waste be eliminated?
The committee also wants to see food waste eliminated, and wants a review of the use of “best before” and “use by” dates to avoid unnecessary waste.
Aussies are throwing away more than seven million tonnes of food each year, with 70 per cent still edible according to government data.
“We’re certainly not the bubble and squeak generation of our parents and our grandparents, where food was really highly valued,” Swanson said.
The problem accelerates over the Christmas and New Year period with OzHarvest expecting Australians to waste up to a third more food than usual.
Matt Rose from the charity says 30 per cent of food waste happens in the home.
“We encourage people over the festive season to have a shelf in their fridge where they can put the food that needs to be eaten in the next few days,” he said.
The inquiry report is in the hands of the government which is expected to respond later in 2024.
(SBS)
