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Parent-teacher  associations at 600 primary schools are being urged to include the first set of government guidelines on healthy diets in formulating contracts with food suppliers to supervise  lunch quality.

The guidelines, unveiled yesterday, advise  that a healthy school lunch should provide grains such as rice or pasta, vegetables and meat in the ratio of 3:2:1.

Lists of healthy and  undesirable food and  quantities of different kinds of food that should be included in school lunches are also stated in the guidelines.

Vice-chairman of the Home-School Co-operation Committee Christopher Yu Wing-fai  said group members had already contacted some  parent-teacher associations at whole-day primary schools and  advised them to adopt the practice.

'We have advised them to make sure contracts with school lunch suppliers  cover guidelines issued by the government so that we can supervise the traders and ensure our children are eating healthily at schools,' he said.

Mr Yu said their members would also  assist schools where more help was needed when negotiating with food providers.

'Parents want to give their children the best and they are paying for the food. They are in the best position to check if the government guidelines are strictly enforced,' he said.

The nutritional guidelines on school  lunches for primary school students are  part of a healthy eating campaign which is to be launched in the coming school year to combat obesity among primary pupils.

About 16.4 per cent of primary school students suffered from obesity in the year 1997 and 1998, and the rate jumped to 18.7 per cent in the year 2004 and 2005, according to the Health Department.

Assistant director of health  Regina Ching Cheuk-tuen  said  the guidelines were timely, as most schools and parents' groups negotiated with food suppliers months before the new school year began.

The department has contacted five major school lunch providers  who supply food to most primary schools, and their reaction  has been quite supportive.

'We have also sent out the guidelines to every food trader in the industry. They are in fact very much interested in producing healthy food, and they just need some concrete guidelines to help them put into action,' she said.



Schools urged to use guide to food quality