Manitoba government launches healthy eating campaign for children

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This article was published 24/09/2015 (4013 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Manitoba government will spend $375,000 to promote healthy eating for young children, Healthy Living and Seniors Minister Deanne Crothers and Family Services Minister Kerri Irvin-Ross said today.

The government calls it the Child Care Nutrition Strategy and says its aim is to foster positive eating in child-care settings.

“It is well-known that what we learn as a child greatly influences our habits later in life,” Crothers said in a statement.

Crothers said the strategy was developed through consultations with the Manitoba Early Learning and Child Care branch of Manitoba Family Services, the Manitoba Child Care Association and Dietitians of Canada.

The Child Care Nutrition Strategy’s goals in the next three years are to:

• increase children’s access to healthy, fresh, wholesome and safe food every day;
• provide a positive eating environment for children on a daily basis; and
• help educate children, early childhood educators, parents and others about early childhood nutrition and recommended feeding practices.

Dietitians of Canada will lead the implementation of the strategy over the next three years by providing support and education to early childhood educators.

Along with the launch of the strategy, the province released the Manitoba Nutrition Handbook for Early Learning and Child Care, a resource designed to provide advice to early childhood educators on how to work with families to create healthy eating practices. All licensed child-care centres and homes in the province will be provided with the handbook.

For more information about the Child Care Nutrition Strategy, or read the Manitoba Nutrition Handbook for Early Learning and Child Care, go here.