Replies to LegCo questions

LCQ1: "EatSmart@school.hk" Campaign

Following is a question by the Hon Mrs Sophie Leung and a reply by the Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food, Dr York Chow, in the Legislative Council today (January 31):

Question:

The "EatSmart@school.hk" Campaign has been launched in full scale in all primary schools in Hong Kong since the 2006-2007 school year, aiming at improving the eating habits of school children. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a) given that the target respondents of the survey entitled "Baseline Assessment of Promoting Healthy Eating in Primary Schools" conducted by the authorities from February to March 2006 included students and parents but were confined to Primary Four and Five pupils and their parents, of the justifications for determining the target respondents, and the reasons for not including pupils of the other grades and their parents;

(b) given that the cross-sector Steering Committee set up by the Government for the above Campaign comprises representatives from 10 sectors including government departments, professional and educational bodies only, why representatives of parents, teachers and the catering sector, in particular food suppliers, have not been included; of the criteria adopted for determining the composition of the Committee; and whether it has assessed how the Committee with such composition can provide comprehensive advice on and direct the above Campaign; if it has, of the assessment results; and

(c) of the number and details of the new promotional and related activities to be organised by the Government for the Campaign?


Reply:

Madam President,

It is of paramount importance to develop a healthy eating habit since childhood. The "EatSmart@school.hk" Campaign seeks to help school children develop and form a healthy eating habit since childhood to enable them to grow healthily and prevent diseases relating to bad eating habits, such as heart disease, diabetes, stroke, cancer, etc. While the promotion of a healthy eating culture will be our on-going initiative, its success hinges on the recognition and support of the community at large.

My reply to the three parts of the question is as follows:

(a) The "Baseline Assessment of Promoting Healthy Eating in Primary Schools" in the form of a questionnaire survey was designed to gain an understanding of the eating environment and patterns of various primary schools across the territory as well as students' knowledge of, attitudes towards and practices of healthy diet. Primary One to Three (junior primary) students were not included in this survey as the Department of Health (DH) considered that due to their young age, they might have difficulty in understanding the questionnaire and that the information received from them might not give a true picture of their eating habits. Besides, the survey was conducted in the first quarter of last year when Primary Six students and their parents were busy preparing for the secondary school places allocation. For this reason, Primary Six students were not included in the survey. In fact, a similar survey conducted among primary schools of the Central and Western District in 2002 by the University of Hong Kong showed that there was no significant difference among Primary One to Primary Six students in respect of their eating habits. In light of this, DH decided to target the survey at Primary Four and Primary Five students (aged around 9 to 10) and their parents.

(b) In determining the composition of the cross-sectoral Steering Committee (the Committee) of the "EatSmart@school.hk" Campaign, our primary consideration is to collect valuable opinions from the relevant parties. To this end, the Committee is formed with representatives of school administrators and teachers (those from the Union of Government Primary School Headmasters and Headmistresses, the Union of Heads of Aided Primary Schools of Hong Kong and the Subsidised Primary Schools Council) as well as representatives of parents (those from the Committee on Home-School Co-operation). Food suppliers are also represented on the Working Group under the Committee on building a healthy eating supportive environment in schools. They have offered very useful advice on the formulation of the Nutritional Guidelines on School Lunch for Primary School Students as well as the improvement of the eating environment in schools.

(c) To tie in with the implementation of the EatSmart@school.hk Campaign, DH has actively organised various publicity activities, including broadcast of two series of Announcement in the Public Interest (API) on healthy snacks and lunches on television and radio, mounting of large posters at mass transit systems, and arranging for the holding of over 60 media interviews and 6 press conferences. In addition, through the School "NutriAgent" Project (SNAP), DH has provided advice and training on nutrition for teachers and parents from 146 schools.

Under the "EatSmart@school.hk" Campaign, a number of competitions and activities are also being held to facilitate active participation of students, parents, and school lunch suppliers. Among these activities, the inter-school slogan and e-card design competition allows students to vote online for the winning entries. Besides, DH is now extending an open invitation to school lunch suppliers and parents to take part in the sectional competitions of the "Popular Lunch Box Election". DH also has plans to launch a Fruit Day targetting at primary students across the territory in April this year to encourage children to eat more fruits.

On forging closer collaboration among food suppliers, parents and schools, DH has held over 25 briefings and organised an Alliance Building Ceremony for the "EatSmart@school.hk" Campaign. More than 800 people, including primary school students and teachers, parents, food suppliers and representatives of non-government organisations (NGOs) and professional bodies, participated in the ceremony, which aims at pooling efforts of various stakeholders to advance the cause of healthy eating at schools. In June 2007, DH will pay tribute to organisations and individuals with outstanding performance.

DH will closely monitor the participation of all stakeholders and the response to the campaign. It will adjust the working strategies where necessary. An evaluation study on the "EatSmart@school.hk" campaign will be conducted at the end of the 2006/07 school year for a comprehensive review and evaluation of the campaign. In the years ahead, DH will strive to promote nutrition education among parents, assist food suppliers in providing more healthy food, and facilitate the role of schools in encouraging and coordinating the collaboration among food suppliers, parents and schools.


Ends/Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Issued at HKT 11:59

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