Dubai, UAE: Dubai Municipality has launched an innovative food safety awareness programme for schoolchildren by forming āHealthy to Happy Schoolā clubs in eight schools. The initiative aims to create awareness on food safety and healthy eating habits among the children.
Interested schools are required to form a group of 15 dedicated students for the Healthy to Happy school clubs that will work on initiatives and ideas to reduce childhood obesity and food-borne illness in the region along with their teachers and school managements.
āThe Food Safety Department of Dubai Municipality takes all the measures to ensure food safety along the food chain from farm to table,ā said Noura Abdulla Al Shamsi, Head of Food Permits and Applied Nutrition Section in the Food Safety Department.
āThe youth and the students require our special attention pertaining to food safety and to meet the principles of healthy nutrition. We aim to educate both parents and children about healthy eating and proper food handling practices which will compliment nutritional eating and food safety at the same time,ā she said in a press release on Monday.
The schools that have already initiated Healthy to Happy school clubs in the first phase of the programme include Central High School, The City School Dubai, Gems Winchester School, New Indian Model School, Gulf Indian High School, Gems Modern Academy, Al Sadiq Islamic School and American School of Creative Science. The Food Safety Awareness team of Dubai Municipalityās Food Safety Department will visit more schools to encourage them to form similar clubs.
The clubs were given training on food safety, nutrition, portion size, food waste reduction, cooking skills and healthy lunch box preparation during a special workshop held at Childrenās City. These clubs will now start working on creating awareness through programmes and initiatives to improve food safety and nutrition culture in their schools.
The Healthy to Happy school clubs will serve as a representative of the school to Dubai Municipalityās Food Safety Department, and they will be notified on different trends to improve their knowledge and create more awareness in their schools and homes.
These clubs will work with teachers and school managements and will use information provided by the municipalityās Food Safety Awareness team during the workshops to come up with initiatives that will improve the food safety standards and healthy eating in the schools.
The Food Safety Awareness Team has distributed an interactive illustrated book prepared by the team titled āA Journey of Healthy Food with Friendsā to the students. The book deals with food safety and healthy eating habits in schools.
The team, in coordination with the Healthy to Happy School Club in each school, will organise lectures, workshops and competitions in schools based on the food safety and health tips provided by the team as well as the information given in the book. In addition to creating awareness, the team will listen to the suggestions of the Healthy to Happy school clubs regarding canteen food safety and the improvements to be made in the canteens. The programme also includes a film to familiarise parents and children with healthy and safe food.
Ā© Gulf News via Edarabia.com
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