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Thousands of children receive between 50 and 75% of the food they eat during the time they spend at childcare facilities. That's why the MO Department of Health and Senior Services is developing new nutrition guidelines for childcare facilities. KSMU's Michele Skalicky has more.
It’s lunchtime at the University Child Care Center and toddlers are dining on rice with turkey meatballs and gravy, corn and pears.These kids are just a few of the nearly 300,000 children in MO who attend a childcare center and who the MO Department of Health and Senior Services is targeting in a new program.The MO Eat Smart Guidelines offer nutritional advice for day care centers and childcare workers to help them improve their menus. The MO DHSS wants to hear what the public thinks about the new guidelines before they’re implemented and has set a deadline of March 16th.Pat Kramer is a registered dietician with DHSS.
“The Eat Smart guidelines for childcare are being proposed because we see that there's a definite need. Meals that are served in childcare have such a lasting impact on the nutrition habits and health and well-being of children in care that we really want to make sure that childcare centers are able to provide the best that they possibly can."
Childcare centers are not required to follow the guidelines, but Kramer says those that do will be ahead of the game. She believes the USDA’s Child and Adult Care Food Program will revise its dietary guidelines in the future.
“We foresee that these recommendations are coming down the road and so we're trying to help them meet them before it's staring them in the face."
Not only is the MO DHSS offering guidelines on menu choices, they are also encouraging childcare workers to eat with the children so that the kids will model their behavior.At UCCC, the center’s director Jennifer Crouch says they have a set menu that’s on a six-week rotation. They’ve revised the menu in the last couple of years and offer more fresh fruits and vegetables and a wider variety of foods.
“We try to keep a balance of choosing things that the kids are going to like and eat but also exposing them to a wide variety of foods and foods that are healthy, too."
She says they’ll keep the new guidelines in mind as they look at ways to make the menu even healthier in the future.
“I think a lot of them we're already doing but some of the suggestions we're not so, yeah, I think we'll definitely look at these and try to make some small changes over time probably. Our menus are a constant work in progress, trying to provide healthier options and do what's best for the kids."
If you’d like to view the proposed guidelines, go towww.dhss.mo.gov/NewsAndPublicNotices/PublicComment.html.
