Increasing Food Expenditure in Long Day-Care by an Extra $0.50 Per Child/Day Would Improve Core Food Group Provision
Early childhood education and care services are a significant feature of Australian family life, where nearly 1.4 million children attended a service in 2019. This paper reports on the cost of food provided to children in long day-care (LDC) services and extrapolates expenditure recommendations to s...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2020-03-01
|
| Series: | Nutrients |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/12/4/968 |
| _version_ | 1797571910518702080 |
|---|---|
| author | Ros Sambell Ruth Wallace Johnny Lo Leesa Costello Amanda Devine |
| author_facet | Ros Sambell Ruth Wallace Johnny Lo Leesa Costello Amanda Devine |
| author_sort | Ros Sambell |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Early childhood education and care services are a significant feature of Australian family life, where nearly 1.4 million children attended a service in 2019. This paper reports on the cost of food provided to children in long day-care (LDC) services and extrapolates expenditure recommendations to support food provision compliance. A cross-sectional audit of LDC services in metropolitan Perth was conducted to determine food group provision by weighing raw ingredients of meal preparation—morning tea, lunch, and afternoon tea (MT, L, AT). Ingredients were costed at 2017 online metropolitan pricing from a large supermarket chain. Across participating services, 2 days of food expenditure per child/day ranged between $1.17 and $4.03 across MT, L, AT, and averaged $2.00 per child/day. Multivariable analysis suggests that an increase of $0.50 per child/day increases the odds of a LDC service meeting >50% of Australian Dietary Guideline (ADG) recommendations across ≥4 core food groups by fourfold (<i>p</i> = 0.03). Given the fact that the literature regarding food expenditure at LDC services is limited, this study provides information about food expenditure variation that impacts planning and provision of nutritionally balanced menus recommended for children. An average increase of food expenditure of $0.50 per child/day would increase food provision compliance. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T20:47:17Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-dc1c78e0a05e4d14a795c91ce31cfe7c |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2072-6643 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T20:47:17Z |
| publishDate | 2020-03-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Nutrients |
| spelling | doaj.art-dc1c78e0a05e4d14a795c91ce31cfe7c2023-11-19T20:15:53ZengMDPI AGNutrients2072-66432020-03-0112496810.3390/nu12040968Increasing Food Expenditure in Long Day-Care by an Extra $0.50 Per Child/Day Would Improve Core Food Group ProvisionRos Sambell0Ruth Wallace1Johnny Lo2Leesa Costello3Amanda Devine4School of Medical and Health Sciences, Edith Cowan University, Joondalup, 6027 Perth, AustraliaSchool of Medical and Health Sciences, Edith Cowan University, Joondalup, 6027 Perth, AustraliaSchool of Medical and Health Sciences, Edith Cowan University, Joondalup, 6027 Perth, AustraliaSchool of Medical and Health Sciences, Edith Cowan University, Joondalup, 6027 Perth, AustraliaSchool of Medical and Health Sciences, Edith Cowan University, Joondalup, 6027 Perth, AustraliaEarly childhood education and care services are a significant feature of Australian family life, where nearly 1.4 million children attended a service in 2019. This paper reports on the cost of food provided to children in long day-care (LDC) services and extrapolates expenditure recommendations to support food provision compliance. A cross-sectional audit of LDC services in metropolitan Perth was conducted to determine food group provision by weighing raw ingredients of meal preparation—morning tea, lunch, and afternoon tea (MT, L, AT). Ingredients were costed at 2017 online metropolitan pricing from a large supermarket chain. Across participating services, 2 days of food expenditure per child/day ranged between $1.17 and $4.03 across MT, L, AT, and averaged $2.00 per child/day. Multivariable analysis suggests that an increase of $0.50 per child/day increases the odds of a LDC service meeting >50% of Australian Dietary Guideline (ADG) recommendations across ≥4 core food groups by fourfold (<i>p</i> = 0.03). Given the fact that the literature regarding food expenditure at LDC services is limited, this study provides information about food expenditure variation that impacts planning and provision of nutritionally balanced menus recommended for children. An average increase of food expenditure of $0.50 per child/day would increase food provision compliance.https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/12/4/968childcarebudgetlong day-carefood groupsearly childhood education and carediscretionary |
| spellingShingle | Ros Sambell Ruth Wallace Johnny Lo Leesa Costello Amanda Devine Increasing Food Expenditure in Long Day-Care by an Extra $0.50 Per Child/Day Would Improve Core Food Group Provision Nutrients childcare budget long day-care food groups early childhood education and care discretionary |
| title | Increasing Food Expenditure in Long Day-Care by an Extra $0.50 Per Child/Day Would Improve Core Food Group Provision |
| title_full | Increasing Food Expenditure in Long Day-Care by an Extra $0.50 Per Child/Day Would Improve Core Food Group Provision |
| title_fullStr | Increasing Food Expenditure in Long Day-Care by an Extra $0.50 Per Child/Day Would Improve Core Food Group Provision |
| title_full_unstemmed | Increasing Food Expenditure in Long Day-Care by an Extra $0.50 Per Child/Day Would Improve Core Food Group Provision |
| title_short | Increasing Food Expenditure in Long Day-Care by an Extra $0.50 Per Child/Day Would Improve Core Food Group Provision |
| title_sort | increasing food expenditure in long day care by an extra 0 50 per child day would improve core food group provision |
| topic | childcare budget long day-care food groups early childhood education and care discretionary |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/12/4/968 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT rossambell increasingfoodexpenditureinlongdaycarebyanextra050perchilddaywouldimprovecorefoodgroupprovision AT ruthwallace increasingfoodexpenditureinlongdaycarebyanextra050perchilddaywouldimprovecorefoodgroupprovision AT johnnylo increasingfoodexpenditureinlongdaycarebyanextra050perchilddaywouldimprovecorefoodgroupprovision AT leesacostello increasingfoodexpenditureinlongdaycarebyanextra050perchilddaywouldimprovecorefoodgroupprovision AT amandadevine increasingfoodexpenditureinlongdaycarebyanextra050perchilddaywouldimprovecorefoodgroupprovision |