Supplier Guidelines

SUPPLIERguidelines Traffic Light Food Guidance

Children’s tastes vary. It can be challenging to provide healthy food that children want to eat and getting children to enjoy new foods can take time. The Ka Ora, Ka Ako | Healthy School Lunches Programme Healthy Food and Drink Guidance identifies the healthy options for foods and drinks in schools.

It classifies foods and drinks as green, amber and red. As a minimum standard, no red items should be included in school lunches. Red items are high in fats, salt, and sugar with no nutritional value. They are often highly processed and eating lots of these contributes towards poor health.

Lunches should be made up of amber and green items. As suppliers transition towards offering healthier menu options, the proportion of green to amber items should increase and the frequency of amber items per week should decrease. For more information, visit www.education.govt.nz H

GREEN ITEMS

• Are a good source of nutrition. • Generally lower in saturated fat, salt and added sugar. • Are mostly whole and less processed . • Come from the four food groups: vegetables, fruit, wholegrains, low fat milk products, and legumes, seafood, eggs, and meat with fat removed.

AMBER ITEMS

• Are not part of an everyday diet. • May have some nutritional value. • Are often more processed. • In large servings, can contribute to consuming excess kilojoules/calorie.

RED ITEMS

• Have poor nutritional value • Are high in saturated fat, salt and/or added sugars • Can contribute to consuming excess kilojoules/calories. • Are often highly processed food and drinks.