As children get back to nursery settings following the long summer holiday, the age-old decision about whether they have a packed lunch or eat a nursery lunch needs to be made.
Last year, Essex County Council Public Health commissioned ‘Nourishing our Future’, research by Anglia Ruskin University to explore food and drink provision and consumption in early years settings in Essex and identify opportunities for improvement.
The research followed increased national awareness of the importance of early years nutrition following increasing childhood obesity and tooth decay in four to five-year-olds, leading to hospital attendance, poor mental and physical health.
The Nourishing Our Future (NOF) research identified managing children's food preferences – including an increasing reluctance to try new foods – and the cost of food as the biggest obstacles faced by early years educators in Essex.
Some settings even resorted to giving up providing meals and offering snacks instead due to the diverse range of likes, dislikes and allergies displayed by children attending their nursery.
In Essex, childhood overweight and obesity affects 21% of reception-aged children (four to five years old).
Essex County Council Public Health recognises that early years settings hold significant potential to encourage healthy eating habits amongst children, and in association with the Essex Healthy Weight Strategy, Our Appetite for Change, acknowledges that children and young people are a priority cohort, and early years are a priority setting
Over the summer, a series of events about food and nutrition sensory education have been carried out in 12 settings in Essex, hosted by national charity TastEd, to help early years settings offer a range of food which is palatable, nutritious and fun for children to try, in an effort to expand the range of foods they will try.
I hope to visit an early years setting in my constituency soon, to learn how the staff try to encourage our children to try new foods and eat more healthily - I will report back when I do.
- Alex Burghart is Conservative MP for Brentwood and Ongar.
