When Food Comes from Home

Abstract

Healthy eating habits are closely related to optimal growth, good education outcomes, and health throughout life. Long Day Care Centres (LDCCs) are important settings where young children can learn about food and develop preferences for healthy food choices. The Queensland Childcare Nutrition Survey found that food is brought from home in 55.2 per cent of Queensland LDCCs. In these centres, the vast majority of young children did not bring the recommended serves from the dairy, vegetable, or meat/meat alternative groups, resulting in concerns that daily intakes of calcium, iron, and zinc were likely to be inadequate. Many directors were also concerned about the contents of lunchboxes and about infant feeding issues. This article describes the nutrition issues faced by centres where the food is brought from home. Lt also outlines a range of strategies and nutrition resources that may assist the childcare industry, LDCC staff, and families to promote healthy food habits in the future.