The Advisory Panel on Food and Nutrition in the Early Years was originally due to report last September, so it is heartening to see that it did not disappear into a post-election black hole and has now published its findings in Laying the Table (see News, page 4).
The panel's proposals for a national set of guidelines on providing food for pre-school children and for training in food and nutrition to be more widely available are unlikely to meet with resistance.
Meeting young children's nutritional requirements and getting portion sizes right is not an easy business, especially with the current gaps in information and lack of knowledge about where to turn for advice. Some settings are well-meaning, but dish up too much fruit and veg at the expense of carbohydrate, in an attempt to be 'healthy', for example.
The main talking point of the review is probably whether or not there should be regulation rather than voluntary guidance. The panel believes that mandatory guidance would be too bureaucratic and that settings should be encouraged, not forced, to adopt guidelines.
It is true that many early years settings are trying hard to provide a healthy diet for the children in their care, and some are doing an excellent job. However, the minority of nurseries and childminders who offer nutritionally-poor menus full of low-value, processed food are unlikely to sign up to voluntary guidance. Wouldn't it be better to take a firm grip on this, as has happened in schools?
Nursery Food Award
We've seen some brilliant food provision from nurseries entering this category of our awards in the past few years. If your food is fantastic, enter now at www.nurseryworldawards.com.