RE-TASTY

The food that children and adolescents consume is influenced by the food system they live in. The nutritional needs of children are seldom prioritized in efforts to re-orient food systems. For example, there are food environments that often promote cheap, energy-dense, nutrient poor foods while healthy options are not made affordable or convenient. At the same time, food system transformation narratives seldom consider the potential of children and youth as change agents.

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School settings are important educational places for change. Children and adolescents (students) particularly interact with the school food system which forms a subsystem of the broader food system. There are three components of the school food system that have an impact on the diet of the students:

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a) The food supply chain – all the activities that move food from production to consumption. The decisions made by many actors at any stage of this chain have implications on other stages as they influence the types of foods that are available and accessible.

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b) The food environment – that is the ‘food entry points’ (the physical spaces where food is obtained). In short, it includes the physical and economic access to food (proximity and affordability), advertising and information, food promotion, food quality and safety.

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c) The consumer (student) behaviour – This behaviour is influenced by taste, convenience, culture, values, skills, education and other factors. It is also influenced by the existing school food environment (in and around the school).

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These three elements can impact student’s capacity to adopt sustainable diets that are economically fair and affordable, culturally acceptable, local, tasty, healthy, safe as well as protective and respectful of biodiversity and ecosystems.

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Based on the WHO/UNICEF/Lancet report ‘A future for the World’s Children’ citizen participation and community action, including the voices of children themselves, are powerful forces for change that must be mobilised to reach the Sustainability Development Goals.  It is stated that better ways must be found to amplify the voices and skills of children for the planet’s sustainable and healthy future (which includes of course the food systems we live in and interact with).

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Useful resources:

​1. Aguayo V.M. and S.S. Morris. 2020. Introduction: Food systems for children and adolescents. Global Food Security, 27, 100435.

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2. Franco, M. and Fajó-Pascual, M., 2023. School food systems. In: B. Caballero, ed. Encyclopedia of Human Nutrition. 4th ed. Academic Press, 341–349. doi:10.1016/B978-0-12-821848-8.00146-3

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3. HLPE, 2017. Nutrition and Food Systems. A report by the High-Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition of the Committee on World Food Security. Rome

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4. United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), 2019. Food systems for children and adolescents: working together to secure nutritious diets. New York, UNICEF.

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5. WHO/UNICEF/Lancet Commission, 2020. A future for the world’s children? A WHO-UNICEF-Lancet Commission. 395: 605-58.