Café Life
Karyn Cunningham, Fair Trading Officer at Durham Trading Standards, explained how the results of food sampling exercises had been used in a computer database, which can now be used to teach children the importance of choosing healthier options.
Summary
Trading Standards, with the help of their in-house IT department have used the results of food analysed and compared with the Caroline Walker Trust Guidelines by the Public Analyst, to create a computer programme which can be used to instantly access accurate nutritional information.
This programme is very user friendly and produces colourful illustrative graphs and pictures to help users easily understand the levels of salt, fat, sugar’s and calories in a meal they have chosen, and more importantly it shows them how these levels compare with the Caroline Walker Trust Guidelines. This information can then be used to help decide on a more nutritionally balanced meal.
So far the programme has been in used in two schools where children were given a menu with several options. The chosen meal, the components of which have been analysed by the Public Analyst, are then entered into the computer programme and the children can then see how nutritionally balanced their meal is.
Background
As part of a Food Standards Agency survey Durham food enforcement officers submitted for analysis products that were commonly found in children’s meals. These included popular chocolate bars, drinks, tinned and take away foods. The foods were analysed for their nutritional content and the results were compared to the Caroline Walker Trust Guidelines.
Having gathered these results together it was felt important to try and use them in some way to inform children of the importance of their meal choices on their health and a computer programme was devised, which could then be taken into schools.
Aims and Objectives
The objectives of the project are therefore:
1.To improve nutritional awareness and assist consumers, particularly children make an informed choice about the food they choose to eat.
2. To use the results of analysis obtained from sampling, following the Public Analysts scientific assessment for the accuracy of QUID and nutritional claims
3.To improve the educational value of the enforcement actions for the benefits of children, their parents and other community groups.
4.To work with partners on a long-term basis to address local issues surrounding childhood obesity and the lack of awareness of health and nutrition, targeting areas of the community recognised as experiencing high levels of social deprivation.
5.To eventually introduce the programme to as many schools in County Durham as possible with the programme being made available nationally.
Partners
1. Durham County Council Trading Standards Service
2. Durham County Council Public Analyst
3. Durham County Council Customer Services (IT)
4. Durham County Council Education Service
5. University of North Durham Acute Hospital – Senior Dietician
Promotion
Initially the focus of the project was upon school children, however other community groups have also approached Trading Standards expressing an interest in the project. The computer programme is adaptable and anyone interested in finding out about the nutritional content of their meals can make use of it.
Methodology
In addition to looking at the nutritional content the Analyst also provided the results to Trading Standards in an easy to read excel spreadsheet and compared them with the Caroline Walker Trust Guidelines. Taking this one step further Trading Standards then worked with their IT service and requested a computer programme be put together which could allow anyone, aged 5-16 to enter a meal combination, the components of which were already in the database.
They could then find out whether it was a suitable meal to eat taking into consideration their age. Bearing in mind that currently the majority of foods in the programme are aimed at children the programme has so far only been used with age groups from 5 to 16 years. The results are laid out in an attractive easy to read style. For younger users the results are given in a traffic light format; with red, amber and green lights indicating how healthy the meal choice has been.
So far two schools have been involved with the programme which has been developed to promote the cafe. See report of activities below for more details .
Resources
Analysis Costs – Trading Standards budget
Trading Standards time - @ 148 hours by Karyn and 37 hours by Alan Hodgson to carry out the sampling and associated work.
IT time @ 180 hours, Imitation food - £400
Trading Standards are intending to apply for further funding from the Food Standards Agency in order to carry out more sampling, create a CD-Rom, leaflets and teaching materials that can be used to train teachers on how to use the programme and link it in with the curriculum.
Recruitment
The majority of the food sampling used is formal, so is necessary to use qualified food enforcement staff so that their specialist knowledge in labelling can be used when choosing the foods. A basic understanding of some nutrition issues is also useful when working with the children.
When taking the computer programme into schools it is easier if several staff are able to attend. Karyn was fortunate in that she had the assistance of four other staff, who were able to work with the children, encouraging them with their meal choices and chat with them about healthy foods. Not all of these officers were food qualified. This gave more opportunity for staff of different levels to work together.
Other Resources
The programme, Café Life, which has been devised by Trading Standards, has currently been set up with schools in mind, and thus the most applicable location for its use is in a school setting, however it can also be used just as well in a youth club or community group. It needs to be as portable as possible and the laptop and more importantly a printer is necessary. Display boards, Menus, goody bags.
Imitation food. This was not available at the first event and Karyn mentioned that it was very popular amongst the children at Catchgate Primary, however she soon leant that big signs were needed stating "Don’t touch"!
Evaluation
As a result of the first session, the project proved very popular amongst the schools, and several contacted the Trading Standards team. Evaluation sheets have now been drawn up for use by the teachers and school children to find out whether the aims of the project have been met.
Lessons learnt
There is no reason why this project should stop, however to make it less time consuming for the Trading Standards personnel it would be useful to have the CD ROMs manufactured which then can be used by teachers in the school.
The programme itself works well, but to provide a wide ranging varied number of foods to choose from more foods that have been analysed need to be added, although it is possible just to add the typical analysis from the food labels themselves.
Other lessons that have been learnt include:
1.At the first event there were too many children for the trading standards staff to deal with. For the second event 8 staff were on hand, with 5 attending each day
2.Children can become easily distracted. Try to have separate rooms for each activity.
3.Its good to have a printer as the children can refer to the information at a later date, and hopefully their parents will learn from it to.
4.The visual aids proved very useful and popular.
Future Developments
As previously mentioned it is hoped to devise a CD ROM and teaching pack. Trading Standards are currently in contact with the local dietician, and the education department to work on this.
It is intended that future food-sampling results can be added to the programme, as will the results of school meal sampling, which will also be compared to the Caroline Walker Trust Guidelines. These school meal results will be used to set up programme that can be used by children, with the help of their teacher when choosing their meal before lunch in addition to help advise the school meal providers on the nutritional content of their meals.
To view a 2008 update on this project - Cafe life update 08
If you would like any further information about this project please feel free to contact Karyn using the details below:
Name: Karyn Cunningham
Position: Fair Trading Officer
Address:
Durham County Council Trading Standards Service,
Food Team
County Hall
Durham
DH1 5UB
Telephone: 0191 3833834
Email address: karyn.cunningham@durham.gov.uk
Other Resources: