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Measuring food provision in Western Australian long day care (LDC) services: a weighed food record method/protocol at
Ros Sambell1, Ruth Wallace2, Leesa Costello2
1Edith Cowan University, 270 Joondalup Drive, Joondalup, WA, 6027, Australia. r.sambell@ecu.edu.au.
Insights
Accurate measurement of food provision in Australian long day care (LDC) services is crucial for children's nutrition. This study developed a standardized method to audit food provision and waste at a service level.
Area of Science:
- Nutrition Science
- Public Health Nutrition
- Child Nutrition
Background:
- Over 1.3 million Australian children use Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) services.
- Children consume a significant portion of their daily intake (40-67%) at Long Day Care (LDC) facilities.
- Current dietary assessment methods lack accuracy and consistency at a service level for young children.
Purpose of the Study:
- To outline a standardized data collection process for measuring and auditing food provision and food waste at a service level within LDC settings.
- To address the urgent need for accurate assessment of food provision to ensure compliance with dietary guidelines.
- To establish a consistent methodology for comparing dietary data across studies and monitoring changes over time.
Main Methods:
- Convenience sampling recruited 30 LDC services for a two-day assessment.
- Trained researchers weighed raw food ingredients during preparation to ensure consistency.
- Food items were categorized into food groups to determine average serves per child for morning tea, lunch, and afternoon tea.
Main Results:
- The study details a process for measuring food provision and waste at a service level in LDC settings.
- Data collected were analyzed using Foodworks for dietary analysis.
- Statistical analysis included Wilcoxon signed-rank and one-sample t-tests to assess compliance with dietary guidelines.
Conclusions:
- A standardized method for data collection is essential for accurate measurement and auditing of food provision in ECEC services.
- Consistent assessment methods will enable more rigorous comparisons between studies and effective monitoring of dietary provision over time.
- This approach supports evidence-based decision-making for improving children's nutrition in care settings.
Background:
There are currently 1.3 million children utilising Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) services in Australia. Long day care (LDC), family day care and out of school hours care currently provide this service in different environments. This research reports findings from a LDC perspective. Children can consume 40-67% of their food intake whilst at LDC services, this highlights the importance of monitoring food provision at a service level. There are several methods to measure food provision which typically focus on intake at an individual level. There is limited evidence of measuring food provision accurately at a service level and for young children. Accurate and consistent dietary assessment methods are required to determine compliance with dietary guidelines and to provide rigour for comparison between studies.
Methods:
Convenience sampling was used to recruit 30 LDC services and food provision assessed over two consecutive days. To ensure consistency, trained researchers weighed raw food ingredients used in food preparation at each service. Food and food weights were allocated to food groups to determine average serves of food group provision at morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea per child. All data were entered into Foodworks for dietary analysis and compliance with dietary guidelines was assessed using Wilcoxon signed-rank and one-sample t-tests (SPSS).
Discussion:
This paper outlines the process of data collection for the measurement and auditing of food provision and food waste at a service level. There is an urgent need to ensure that food provision at a service level complies with current dietary guidelines and is accurately assessed. Following a standard method of data collection will allow a more accurate comparison between studies and allow change to be monitored more accurately over time to guide decision makers.
Trial Registration:
As this research project is conducted at a service level and not a clinical trial, registration was not required.
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