Start right-eat right award scheme: implementing food and nutrition policy in child care centers

The Start Right-Eat Right award scheme implemented in Western Australia has been used to provide the incentive to bring about improvement in food service in line with government policy and regulations in the child care industry. Theories of organizational change were used to identify processes and strategies to support the industry in translating policy into practice. A baseline survey of food service management practices, as well as process evaluation, informed action and identified barriers. Impact evaluation demonstrated that the award scheme could bring about improvements in the quality of food service; 80% of centers made changes to their menus as a result of participating. Two years postlaunch, 40% of centers have registered in the scheme. The diffusion of innovation theory is used to explain uptake and discuss results. The success of the scheme was based on four factors: an understanding of the industry, collaboration between the child care industry and government, supporting resources, and incentives.