Healthy eating options sprout

A LANDMARK $300,000 healthy eating initiative designed to improve access to affordable, nutritious food was launched recently in Pakenham.
The joint Cardinia Shire and City of Casey Sprouting New Ideas initiative was announced in March when the councils received a VicHealth funding grant to put the program into action.
After six months of intensive planning, the program was launched last Wednesday (2 November) with the unveiling of a raft of strategies to improve food options across the region.
Project officer Gabrielle Castillo said the region was an ideal launch site for this important program.
“We grow a lot of food, but much of it is sold outside the CardiniaCasey region.
“We also have a lot of young families who are on tight budgets and are often timepoor, as well as many residents living in isolated areas with little access to fresh food shopping outlets and limited public transport,” she said.
“Statistics also show a high reliance on takeaway food, all of which are factors that can contribute to obesity and diet related disease.”
Ms Castillo said the project aims to:
* Improve access to healthy food choices, particularly for vulnerable groups such as geographically isolated communities and schoolaged children;
* Increase the availability of healthy food at retail outlets;
* Incorporate food production and nutrition is into the school curriculum, and improve access to fruit and vegetables in local schools;
* Increase awareness of food production with school aged students and isolated children;
* Develop a food distribution program in partnership with local producers and local service agencies to cater for geographically isolated people.
A working group to implement the project will be comprised of council staff, service providers, primary schools, local producers, consumers and transport agencies.
Plans are also in place to develop a Choosing Healthier Options CHOICE awards in Casey/Cardinia.
This program has already been successfully established in Casey and will be adopted in Cardinia.
It will encourage and assist food premises to embrace excellence in nutrition, food handling and affordability of food for the community.
Primary schools will be encouraged to implement the Farm to Plate program — an educational program enabling students to learn about food production and participate in activities on local farms.
Students will then have the opportunity to establish a community garden in their school where they will grow, harvest and cook nutritious meals.
There are also plans to develop a fruit and vegetable delivery service, where quality food can be delivered at reasonable cost to families and members of the community who have difficulty accessing affordable fruit and vegetables.
Expressions of interest are now sought from local farmers, shops, organisations and schools interested in becoming involved in the project.