Menu
City Know-hows
We looked at the Indian School Children and Junk Food Prohibition regulation in a part of New Delhi. Do schools comply with this well-thought-out regulation prohibiting sales and promotion of food with added sodium, sugar, saturated fat, and trans-fat? Our study looks at the prevention obesity and malnutrition and covers local school environments too.
Share
Target audience
World Health Organisation; The Indian Government, Minister of Health and Family Welfare in India and beyond, including similar posts in state authorities; principals of Schools and Colleges in Delhi, India.
The problem
India enacted the Food Safety (Safe food and balanced diets for children in school) Regulations in 2020. This requires actions by schools including prohibiting sale and promotion of foods with added sugar, sodium, trans-fat, and saturated fats. Schools are also required to install signboards prohibiting sale of unhealthy foods and appoint food counsellors and healthy food ambassadors. But no study has comprehensively checked the compliance of the regulation in detail.
What we did and why
We used India’s transparency law to obtain information from schools in a district within the capital city of New Delhi in India. Data was compiled from 49 public run schools in India. We found that compliance was dismal. This is crucial because a well-intentioned law or regulation needs to be put into action and regularly monitored. In case of non-compliance, there should be checks and balances for health and safety.
Our study’s contribution
Our study comprehensively investigated all the aspects of the law and is not restricted to just one or two compliance issues, as many studies before may have been. This study also obtained views from the people responsible for implementing the law, and is free from researcher bias. The study also looks at some health effects of unhealthy food for school children – while providing recommendations to deal with the problems.
Impacts for city policy and practice
Our study is critical in highlighting the need for a regulation to ensure healthy food for school children in the face of high childhood obesity and malnutrition occurring at the same time. The need for this extant and well-intentioned law to be implemented in a more robust manner is highlighted. It is evident that a lack of teeth or penalties means that these regulations may remain a paper tiger. There is a need to make stricter laws.
For further information, search for the full text: The Food Safety and Standards (Safe food and balanced diets for children in school) Regulations, 2020 [English Text starts page 5] on the Indian government webpages.
Further information
Full research article:
[OPEN ACCESS] Study of compliance of law on healthy and balanced diets by schools in a district of New Delhi, India by Raja Singh, Rima Dada & Arthur L Frank
Related posts
Considering the increase in loneliness and isolation, and importance of creating inclusive communities, this study explored older adults’ social participation needs, facilitators and barriers during a downtown revitalization. Findings highlighted the signification of inclusive environments, and importance of accessibility to activities and resources, affordable transportation and housing, and information about participation opportunities.
When designing and managing public space, decision-makers and designers should:
• involve citizens in the process,
• consider all of the factors that contribute to citizen happiness,
• use evidence-based approaches to inform their decisions,
• monitor and evaluate the impact of public spaces on citizen happiness
Through field observations, surveys with the residents, and interviews with decision-maker, we identified key variables that define food access in rural areas in Jordan, mapped access to food services according to the identified variable. and assessed food access in relation to land use regulations. Our work investigated frameworks governing the allocation of food service establishment locations, spatial requirements, integration into city masterplans, equitable distribution of food service types, and pertinent legislative frameworks.
