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Towards a healthier future

Healthier food offerings for GAA students – an update for parents and school teachers

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Agenda of today’s activity

  • National Agenda 2023
  • Health status of school-going children in the UAE
  • Government compliance – ADPHC and SEHHI
  • Switching to healthier ingredients
  • More value addition by Slices
  • Food tasting for our café and cafeteria menus
  • Pre-launch tasting session for new beverages in parents-teachers cafés

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Reference: Krause and Mahan’s Food and the Nutrition Care Process E-Book

Most common nutrition concerns

Overweight and obesity

Iron deficiency

Dental Caries

ADHD

Cardiovascular health

Early coronary atherosclerosis begins in childhood and adolescence.

Calcium and bone health

Osteoporosis prevention begins early by maximizing calcium retention and bone density during childhood and adolescence.

Fiber

Dietary fiber is needed for health and normal laxation in children. Generally, higher fiber intakes are associated with more nutrient-dense diets in young children (Kranz et al, 2012; Papanikolaou et al, 2017).

Physical activity

Decreased levels of physical activity are still seen in one third of children 4 to 11 years of age, with almost two thirds of the same group having high screen time (Anderson et al, 2008)

Preventing chronic diseases

Importance of Nutrition

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ADULTS:

• 52% are affected by cardiovascular diseases�• 68% are affected by overweight including 28 % with obesity�• 67% consume more than the recommended amount of salt�• 12% are affected by diabetes�• 71% are not doing enough physical activity�• 83% do not eat 5 servings of fruit and vegetables

UAE – Health Statistics

CHILDREN

  • 17% of children between 6-17 years old live with obesity
  • 38% of teenagers between 13-17 years old are affected by overweight

Reference: The National Health Survey in 2018, Global School Health Survey in the UAE 2016 and MoHAP surveillance system for the year 2019.

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MOST RELEVANT STRATEGY'S TARGETS FOR US:

• Halt the rise in obesity in school-age children and adolescents�• Halt the rise in diabetes and obesity in adults�• Reduce average salt intake by 30%�• Virtually eliminate industrial trans fats from the food supply

UAE’s National Nutrition Strategy

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  • In early January 2023, Abu Dhabi Public Health Center conducted their first ever workshop on Nutrition Standards for Abu Dhabi for School Canteens
  • ADPHC has introduced a healthier criteria to mitigate diet-related diseases
  • Until January 2023, ADAFSA (Abu Dhabi Agriculture & Food Safety Authority) was solely involved in approving school foods menus for us

Latest Abu Dhabi Guidelines

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Recent studies related to lifestyle and health has shown that sodium, sugar, saturated fats and trans-fat and not just the calories are nutrients of public health concern. Until January 2023, Slices Catering Services were following the DM1 Criteria for PHSNs2 across all sites

Nutrient

Previous criteria

DM

Latest criteria

ADPHC

Sodium

680mg/100gm

320mg/100g

Total Fat

17.5g/100g

3g/100g

Saturated Fats

5g/100gm

1g/100g

Total Sugars

22g/100gm

-

Added sugars

-

2g/100gm

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Trans-fats*

<1% of T.E.

<1% of T.E.

Healthier criteria by ADPHC

  • All of our foods are in 100% compliance with DM criteria, which was also approved by ADAFSA
  • ADPHC has introduced a stricter criteria which means that we have to reduce:

53%

83%

80%

91%

Sodium by

Fat by

SFA by

Sugars by

* This is WHO Criteria. No definitive nutrient reference for TFAs has been set by either DM or ADPHC.

1= Dubai Municipality; 2= Public Health Sensitive Nutrients

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Fat, salt and sugar enhance the taste & overall organoleptic profile of foods. Switching to healthier ingredients like low-fat, low-sodium and low-sugar alternatives is going to have an impact on the taste and overall acceptance of some foods. Although, no deadline has been given to us to fully comply with the new criteria as yet, but, very soon we will be:

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  1. Discontinuing croissants, coconut milk, regular sauces & ketchup from student cafeterias

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  • Switching to healthier ingredients in all of our recipes such as low-fat milk, low-fat yogurt, low-fat cheeses, low-fat mayonnaise, and low-sodium and low-sugar ketchup alternatives

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  • Further reducing the overall fat, saturated fats, sugars, and sodium content of our recipes by responsibly decreasing the content of oil, salt, and fatty meats in our foods

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  • Targeting to implement all the changes after Eid-al-Fitr this year

Slices proactive measures

We will also be sending out an official letter to all the parents on the recent developments very soon.

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THANK YOU