Cant een w orking group
Educational support Establishment of a t eachers w orking-group Development of lectures for diff erent age groups e.g. :
• balanced food • animals on the farm • food and climate change
• job-perspectives on organic farms
Visits of organic f arms and food processing enterprises (e.g. bakeries, farm shops..)
Graph 1: Food supply in schools and kindergartens – a conceptual framework for the introduction of balanced, age differentiated and (partly) organic food supply in schools and kindergartens
2.1 Project activities since 2004
2.1.1 Research Project, case study Hamburg (2004-2006)
The Ökomarkt e.V., Hamburg implemented a research project, using case studies in seven all day-schools and three kindergartens in Hamburg, to develop a concept for introducing organic food into the daily diet plans. These activities were carried out in cooperation with the University for Applied Sciences Hamburg, which investigated reasons for resistance to organic food, and additional problems arising when trying to introduce organic food components into existing diet plans. The results of these studies were combined with results of discussions with selected target groups.(Laberenz et al. 2006)
2.1.2 Workshop campaign: “Bio is possible for everybody” (2004-2009)
As one way to disseminate the project results the Ökomarkt e.V. organised workshops for caterers, teachers and kitchen personnel of schools and kinder gardens in Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein and parts of Lower Saxony (see www.biokannjeder.de). In more than 50 workshops the strategies to introduce organic food were discussed with more than 400 participants from kindergartens and all school types, like primary schools as well as secondary schools. In particular the workshops are very interesting for all-day schools and focused on those schools that have very little experience with the organisation of food supply in school.
2.1.3 Organic Meal Planner for kindergartens and caterers (2006-2008)
Since October 2006 the Ökomarkt e.V. is developing an organic meal planner for kindergartens in co- operation with the University for Applied Sciences Hamburg (Lange&Zurek 2009). The menus are planned in the way that they:
comply with the recommendations of the D-A-CH reference values (Negotiated Standards for child nutrition set by four societies of nutrition (Germany (DGE), Austria (ÖGE) and Switzerland (SGE+SVE), and the recommendations of the German Society for Nutrition (DGE), Deutsche Gesellschaft für Ernährung, and
use 100% organic and seasonal food and as much as possible regionally produced food. In addition:
the costs per week per child should not go over the limit of 5,- Euro, and the recipes must be adaptable for canteen kitchens.
All recipes were tested in the university kitchen and 50% were additionally tested by kindergarten personnel and their children. Interviews with the kitchen personnel showed that the recipes were accepted by the children and that that they can be realised with organic products without going over the available budget.
3 Findings
Based on the research activities, the work program of the Ökomarkt e.V. has developed a set of services and tools for the expert advice of caterers, canteen personnel as well as the leadership of schools and kindergartens. These services are:
A nutrition education program which provides: • Education of kitchen personnel,
• Address list of caterers working in the region, • Checklist of how to negotiate with caterers,
• List of suppliers of organic food (conditions and minimum quantities),
• Checklist for supplies at the school kiosk (recipes for healthy and freshly made snacks, etc.) • Improvement in the supply of organic food,
• Discussions with owners of organic farms and traders of organic food, and
• Discussions with conventional traders who are likely to integrate organic food in their supply. And an educational support program, which provides:
• Lectures on agriculture, food and nutrition for all age groups, • Visits to organic farms,
• Planning and organisation of canteen events, • Educational meetings with parents.
Results of the research and implementation activities demonstrate that changes in diet plans and work structures are achievable, if all concerned parties– school or kindergarten management, teachers, parents, kitchen personnel – decide together which kind of food (organic or conventionally produced)
should be made available to the children. In addition, information and capacity building activities for the children regarding better food and healthy diets is also important. The problem is often that senior school managers don’t feel responsible for diet plans, and therefore don’t give sufficient guidance to kitchen personnel. Educational programs on child nutrition and food supply should address this target group too. Finally, logistical issues, prices and work organisation often seem to be more important than food quality and healthy diet plans.
To introduce organically produced food step by step into existing diet plans seems to be more successful than trying to achieve this goal with one step. Best practice examples show that a successful introduction can be achieved without substantive increases in diet costs. Precondition for this is that qualified kitchen personnel implements changes in cooking plans and shopping options.
In kindergartens, diet plans are often better structured than in schools. The knowledge and the awareness of kitchen personnel concerning organically produced food though needs to be improved in both places. Important here is also to incorporate the parents into better information management. In the long run better and binding quality standards for kindergarten and school kitchens should be developed to improve health levels of children and to avoid increased costs for the medical system due to obesity problems.
Furthermore it is likely that the children who have been acquainted with the idea of healthy food and diets develop more sustainable consumption patterns when growing up.