Few P.E.I. schools following nutrition policies, auditor general finds

After a close examination of the food being offered at about a third of Prince Edward Island schools, Auditor General Darren Noonan found only two that were following the province's nutrition policies.

The findings were issued Friday in a report titled "Healthiness of Food in Schools."

Noonan's office examined the food offerings at 21of the province's 56 English-language schools and two of its six French-language schools. Only oneEnglish schooland one French school studiedwere found to bein compliance with the guidelines.

• READ:The auditor general'sfull report on nutrition in P.E.I. schools

The auditor general found no problems with P.E.I.'s universal school lunch program, which offers mealsprepared by third-party vendors that are delivered daily to each school on the Island. Those lunches are offered on a pay-what-you-can basis, at a suggested cost to families of $5.75 per meal.

The report said the five school cafeterias operated by the same group that runs the universal lunch program were also in compliance with provincial school food policies.

Beyond that though, most of the breakfast and snack programs, canteens, vending machinesand school cafeterias operated by the schools themselves or other third-party vendors were found to be not in compliance with provincial health eating guidelines.

Those guidelines recommend schools offer healthy choices including whole grains, fresh or frozen fruit or vegetables and milk on a daily basis, while offering less healthy options like pepperoni pizza, chocolate bars or fried foods no more than twice a month.

The report included a photo of the menu at oneunidentified P.E.I. school cafeteria that included pizza, fries, chicken nuggets and bacon cheeseburgers on the menu every day.

Among the school food programs found not to be in compliance with provincial guidelines were:

• 4 of 6 schools offering cafeteria services.
• 5 of 8 schools offering foods ordered from other food-service providers.
• 12 of 20 breakfast programs.
• 9 of 10 snack programs.
• 8 of 10 vending machines and canteens.

Noonan also found the province's school food and nutrition policy is not based on the latest version of Canada's food guide.

The provincial policy was put in place in 2006 and last revised in 2011. Canada updated its food guide in 2019. Noonan recommended the provincial policy be updated in accordance with the new guide.

The report details shortcomings in how schools are monitored to ensure they are in compliance with the provincial policy. Neither the Public Schools Branch nor the French-language school board had a process for doing this.

Monitoring appears to be no better at the school level. Noonan's office checked with 23 schools and did not find any that had a process for monitoring compliance with the food policy.

In its response to the report, the Public Schools Branch said it would work with the P.E.I.Department of Education to begin consultations on food and beverage offerings.