Parents laud healthy move

Dubai: Parents lauded the government's plan to regulate the nutritional content of food and beverages at schools, calling it a positive move.

They said many school canteens currently sell many high-fat, high-sugar and highly processed foods that are unhealthy for children.

Ashraf Al Labban, chief executive officer of an engineering firm, told Gulf News that there should be guidelines for the types of food and beverage sold at school canteens so as not to derail parents' efforts to encourage healthy eating.

"We try to encourage the children to eat more vegetables at home, but the children like junk food," he said.

A father of five, three of whom are in school, Al Labban said having nutritional guidelines at schools would ease many parents' concerns over the health of their children.

"One of my sons is allergic to chips, but he will still buy them when he gets the chance. If his friends eat them, he has to eat them too," he said.

"We cannot control what they are buying at school because we're not there," he added.

A.A.Z., a Pakistani mother of two, agreed, saying schools should "practise what they preached" and provide the children with healthy food.

"Whatever teachers advocate in class, they have to implement at the canteens," she said.

She added schools should be concerned about the health complications that could develop from eating unhealthy foods.