Advocates Call for Legislation to Regulate Sale of Food Near Schools

Nutrition and healthy living advocates are pushing for legislation to be passed which would control what vendors sell outside school gates.

Manager of the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Barbados Inc.’s childhood obesity programme, Francine Charles, said it was difficult to enforce the existing National School Nutrition Policy on vendors who do not sell on school property.

“In principle, the national school nutrition policy covers both the vendors and canteen concessionaires within the school [as well as] vendors within a close radius to the school. However, those are difficult to tackle.

“It is much easier to govern canteen concessionaires who are in the school because they are completely under the Ministry of Education [but] it is a little more difficult to ensure that things are working more smoothly with vendors outside of the schools.

“[Which is why] we are calling for, and we have been working with the Ministry of Energy and Business on this, the National Vending Bill to be proclaimed. I know they have been working to put things in place to ensure that there is greater control, management and arrangement for vendors outside of schools and in other areas but that bill needs to be proclaimed,” she said.

Charles was speaking to the media yesterday outside the latest canteen concessionaires and vendor training session held in the Hodgson Hall of the Barbados Defence Force, St Ann’s Fort, Garrison, St Michael.

She said the bill would better even the playing field.

“They are young children and we are still in the early days of behavioural change . . . Once they have an environment that is much healthier for them so that when they come out, they are getting the same things outside the school as on the inside then, over time, they are going to change their behaviours,” she said.

As for vendors, Charles said she understood they would “do what they usually do” unless clear guidelines were set as “everybody is trying to make a living”.

Advocacy officer with the programme, Jan Phillips, said the session was free and included presentations

on healthier alternatives, the medical effects of sugar and demonstrations on how to create healthier foods. She said the low turnout did not mean the message was not getting out.

“Unfortunately that has been a little bit of an issue. But in as much as we didn’t get enough people today . . . the information still filters down because we go through the Ministry of Education, so they get the information. We collect email addresses, we have telephone numbers, so the information gets out,” she said.

Minister of State in the Ministry of Health Davidson Ishmael in his remarks said he was glad to see the assembled vendors. He said while he expected push-back from those who might feel they were being disadvantaged, it was important to have the conversation regarding the health of the nation.

“Vendors, I’m encouraging you all across Barbados to come on board fully with the Government of Barbados and all of our strategic partners.

“Let’s work together to find alternatives that will be healthier, lower in salt, lower in sugar, lower in being ultra-processed and closer to being organic so that we can give our children a fighting chance at being the healthiest versions of themselves,” he said.

(CA)