Grant: Project Grant

Children spend a large proportion of their waking hours in school; an ideal setting to improve dietary quality and reduce health inequities given they have the potential to reach all children. In March 2019, the Government of Canada declared its intention to "work with provinces and territories towards creating a National School Food Program". Then, in December 2021, Prime Minister Trudeau instructed both the Minister of Agriculture & Agri-Food and the Minister of Families, Children & Social Development "to develop a National School Food Policy and work towards a national school nutritious meal program" in their mandate letters. Given the known diversity of school food programs across Canada, overall, the breadth and depth of research on Canadian school food programs is lacking. To date, research has focused on nutritional intake, nutrition education, and improved educational attainment associated with school food program interventions. Presently, there is very limited research on how school food programs operate, and a pressing need for insight into operational details of an array of school food programs that are responsive to the diverse needs of communities across Canada. The purpose of our research is to examine, through a series of case studies, school food provision models to inform decision-making for the development of a nationally-harmonized school food program for Canada. These case studies will be supplemented by follow-up international systematic reviews of key promising characteristics of SFP models and analysis of the public discourse around school food programming. Academic team members across the country work with practitioner members of the Coalition for Healthy School Food whose members are located in every province and territory. We prioritize research that has immediate value to the community and decision-makers and advances science through the generation of knowledge and creative application of methods and tools.