Today, the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Roderic O’Gorman, together with Hildegarde Naughton, Minister of State with responsibility for Public Health, Well Being and the National Drugs Strategy, has launched the Nutrition Standards for Early Learning and Care Services.
These new Nutrition Standards have been developed in collaboration with Healthy Ireland and the Department of Health.
The aim of the Nutrition Standards is to inform the development and implementation of Healthy Eating Policy and practice in early learning and care services. This will help to ensure the promotion of healthy foods and drinks to children, parents, service providers and the wider community.
Information included in the standards, which can be found on the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth’s website, include portion sizes for different aged children, ideas of healthy foods for different meals and snacks throughout the day, and requirements that children need in their diets.
The standards show the importance of following the Children’s Food Pyramid which assists families in making healthier choices for their child as it provides a range of information on the number of servings from each shelf needed at different ages. It also recognises that some children of the same age will need more food and some will need less.
Minister O’Gorman released a statement about the new standards and said, “Good nutrition in a child’s early years lays a healthy foundation for healthy eating habits and is essential for their future health and well-being”.
“With some young children getting up to 80% of their daily nutrition in Early Learning and Care Services, ELCs have a key role to play in supporting children’s development of lifelong healthy eating patterns, skills, behaviours and attitudes”.
“Helping children develop a healthy relationship with food is something that will benefit them for their entire lives”.
Minister Naughton also spoke about the launch to say, “These standards are another step to help make the healthy choice the easier choice for everyone. I am confident that these standards will assist parents and Early Learning and Care Services to help children develop a healthy relationship with food which will set them up for a healthier life”.
