ANNOUNCEMENTS
• Canada’s Food Guide is now available in 10 languages in addition to English and French. It is available in Arabic, Chinese, Farsi (Persian), Korean, Punjabi, Russian, Spanish, Tagalog, Tamil, and Urdu. These languages reflect the nation’s top 10 non-official languages spoken in the homes of recent immigrants. Providing access to healthy eating information for new Canadian students less familiar with English and French is important. For more information please visit: www.healthcanada.gc.ca/foodguide
• Tips for safer, more sustainable food use of plastics
Lately, there's been a lot of publicity on plastics, specifically those containing Bisphenol. Here are a few guidelines (from the following website ) as recommended by a local Occupational Health and Safety specialist: (http://www.agobservatory.org/library.cfm?refid=77083
1. Avoid using plastic containers in the microwave.
2. Beware of cling wraps especially for microwave use.
3. Use alternatives to plastic packaging whenever possible.
4. Avoid plastic bottled water unless you’re traveling or live in an area where the quality of water is questionable.
5. If you do use plastic water bottles, take precautions. If you use a polycarbonate water bottle, to reduce leaching of BPA, do not use for warm or hot liquids and discard old or scratched bottles. Water bottles from #1 or #2 plastics are recommended for single use only. For all types of plastic, you can reduce bacterial contamination by thoroughly washing daily. However, avoid using harsh detergents that can break down the plastic and increase chemical leaching.
• Lunch at the Alberta Legislative Assembly
On June 4, 2008, the Breakfast for Learning Alberta Advisory Council invited all the Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) to come back to school and join them for Lunch at the “Leg.”.
The event was held in the rotunda of the Alberta Legislature building in Edmonton. The MLAs, served by grade 6 students of Vermilion Elementary School, received one of three typical bagged lunches found in Alberta schools:
1. A nutritionally balanced, healthy, nourishing lunch or
2. A less nourishing, nutritionally deficient lunch or
3. An empty bag
For those people who received a less than adequate lunch, there was a table offering fresh fruit and vegetables, milk, and a selection of sandwiches to round out the meal, similar to what may be offered at a Breakfast for Learning school nutritional feeding program.
The event was attended by more than 40% of the MLAs, and was designed to increase the awareness of what Alberta children actually eat for lunch, and what a program like Breakfast for Learning can do to improve children’s nutritional health at school.
News Releases
New Breakfast Program to be Offered at William E. Hay School, Stettler
Eat Right! Be Right! The Club Has Launched
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