Be alert when packing school lunchboxes: Heart Foundation

PARENTS are being warned to watch out for misleading marketing tactics as they pack lunchboxes for their children in the new school year.

With more than four million students returning to classrooms across the country, leading heart health charity the Heart Foundation is urging parents to read nutrition information on food labels and not be fooled by misleading marketing tactics that take advantage of their healthy intentions.

The alert comes as the Heart Foundation calls for action to make it easier for Australians to choose healthy options, with the recommendations of the Health Star Rating system to be mandatory on all food products.

Heart Foundation senior food and nutrition adviser Jemma O’Hanlon said many parents have good intentions when it comes to packing a nutritious lunchbox for their children, but with products labelled as ‘lunchbox friendly,’ a lack of regulation means the products are not necessarily heart smart.

“Parents no doubt read ‘lunchbox friendly’ food options as being healthy, allergy friendly or good options for children, yet there’s no clear definition of what lunchbox friendly means,” Ms O’Hanlon said.

“Who knows what it is referring to – it could just be the size of the food that will fit into a lunchbox.

“The trap is that many parents think these marketable terms such as ‘lunchbox friendly’ means the product has been vetted to meet a strict health criteria, but the truth is they don’t.”

The Heart Foundation recently made a submission to the Federal Government calling for the Health Star Rating system to be mandatory on all food products to make it easier for shoppers to compare between products and choose healthier options.

It recommends that parents looking to create healthy lunches for their children should aim to pack a lunchbox filled with wholefoods for optimal heart health.

“Try to make food a fun experience for your kids,” Ms O’Hanlon said. “You could consider different ways to cut and serve food.

“Kids are more likely to eat fruit when it’s chopped up, so little bite-sized pieces that they can pick up with their fingers and put in their mouths are more likely to be eaten.”

Ms O’Hanlon recommends fresh sandwiches made with wholemeal bread; lean protein fillings such as chicken, fish, egg or falafel; ‘pick me platter’-style lunches with finger foods such as avocado, tomatoes, cucumber, carrot or celery sticks with cheese cubes; a tub of yoghurt as a source of calcium; fruit salad; and a frozen water bottle.