My Canteen newsletters are produced by Nutrition Australia to provide information to assist ACT Canteens
support a healthy eating culture in schools as part of the ACT Government ‘Healthy Food@School’ project.
Issue 6, October 2011
Dairy and dairy alternatives
i
Interesting facts about dairy and
alternatives
The dairy and alternatives food group is an
excellent source of calcium and protein.
Calcium is necessary for normal bone growth
and tooth development. Protein helps
muscles develop. The dairy and alternatives
group includes milk, yoghurt, cheese, calcium
fortified soy and rice milk, and lactose-free
milk. People who choose to follow a
dairy/milk free diet can have the alternatives
such as calcium fortified soy, rice or lactosefree milk to ensure they receive the level of
calcium that they require each day.
Children aged 4-11 need 2-3 serves of dairy
and alternatives, and young people aged 1218 years need 3-5 serves of dairy and
alternatives each day.¹
What is a serve?
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250ml (1 cup) fresh or long-life milk
125ml (½ cup) evaporated milk
200g (1 small tub) yoghurt
40g (2 slices) cheese
250ml (1 cup) custard
Dairy and alternatives in your school canteen
Milk, yoghurt and custard are excellent sources of calcium. Including dairy
and dairy alternatives on your school canteen menu will ensure school
children have the opportunity to consume foods containing calcium during
the day. Here are some colour-coded lists to help you know where a dairy
based food fits in with the National Healthy School Canteen Guidelines:
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Reduced-fat milk (plain, flavored, soy)
Reduced-fat yoghurt (plain, fruit and frozen)
Reduced-fat cheese
Reduced-fat custard without added confectionary
 Full-fat milk
 Full-fat yoghurt
 Full-fat cheese
 Full-fat custard
 All products containing intense sweeteners (except flavoured
milk, fruit yoghurts and custards)
 Coffee style milk drinks (in primary schools).
It can be confusing to categorise some products such as milk based dairy
desserts and frozen yoghurts. For dairy desserts ensure that the first
ingredient listed is milk. If it is and the energy per 100g is 600kJ or less and the
saturated fat is 3g or less per 100g it is AMBER. Frozen yoghurt may be sold as
GREEN if the first ingredient is reduced fat milk. Again you will know this from
the ingredients list.
Training sessions for Term 4
Training sessions for canteen managers have been scheduled for Term 4. These workshops will include information about how to use
the guidelines as well as hands-on cooking to help you with new recipe ideas for your menu. To book in for a training session please
email [email protected] with your name, contact number, school and the session date you would like to attend. All sessions
are held from 10am-1pm, at our offices in Chifley. Session 1: Tuesday 25 October; Session 2: Saturday 5 November; Session 3:
Tuesday 22 November; Session 4: Saturday 3 December 2011.
1.
Australian Guide to Healthy Eating: Background Information for Consumers, 1998, Commonwealth of Australia.
http://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/content/E384CFA588B74377CA256F190004059B/$File/fd-cons.pdf
My Canteen, Issue 6, October 2011
Tips on increasing dairy and
alternatives in your canteen
Here are some tips to help you increase the
amount of dairy and alternatives in your
canteen. Also see attached recipes.
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Add thin slices of reduced-fat cheese
to sandwiches or grated reduced-fat
cheese to wraps.
Include reduced-fat milk drinks in
meal deals instead of juice.
Provide reduced-fat yoghurt with
fruit or vegetable sticks as a snack.
Provide calcium fortified soy, rice or
lactose-free milk products as dairy
alternatives.
Try making smoothies with reduced
fat milk and freeze into ice blocks for
a cool tasty treat.
Sprinkle reduced-fat cheese over
salads, soups, pasta and mini pizza.
Use reduced fat plain yoghurt as a
sauce, dressing or as an addition to
savoury food.
Recipe ideas!
Calcium-rich Fruit Smoothie
Ingredients
Serves
Strawberries, hulled & chopped*
Orange, peeled & chopped
Reduced-fat milk
Reduced-fat plain yoghurt
Honey
6
1 punnet
3
360ml
360g
1 tbsp
12
2 punnets
6
720ml
720g
2 tbsp
Methods
Place all ingredients into the blender and blend until mixture is smooth and
creamy. Pour into cups and serve.
Serves: ½ serve of dairy and ¾ serve of fruit per smoothie.
Cost: $2.16 per serve approximately for ingredients.
Recipe courtesy of Nutrition: The definitive Australian guide to healthy eating for good health.
Written by Lisa Hark & Darwin Deen, 2007.
Strawberry & Banana Popsicles
Ingredients
Serves
Reduced-fat strawberry yoghurt
Strawberries, hulled & chopped*
Small banana, peeled & chopped
6
400g
1 punnet
1
12
800g
2 punnets
2
Methods
Place all ingredients into the blender and blend until mixture is smooth. Pour
into disposable cups; add a pop stick to each cup and freeze until set.
Serves: ½ serve of dairy and ⅓ serve of fruit per Popsicle.
Cost**: $0.88 per serve approximately for ingredients.
Recipe courtesy the CSIRO: Wellbeing plan for kids, 2009.
* Experiment with other fruits or use frozen varieties.
** When the cost of bananas reduces this cost will reduce.
My Canteen has a new look…and we hope you like it!
You may notice that this issue of My Canteen and attached Healthy Food@School recipes have a fresh new look. The My Canteen
and Healthy Food@School banners will be placed on all the newsletters and related resources attached to the program which will
make them easily recognisable. We are hoping that you will build up a collection of these recourses in your canteen and use them
as a reference for great recipes and ideas to help you green your menu.
A friendly reminder – it’s National Nutrition Week
This week is National Nutrition Week and we would love you to be part of it. Please have a look at this website
http://www.nutritionaustralia.org/national/national-nutrition-week-2011 to find lots of interesting and useful tips and ideas to
help you green the menu and also you and your family’s food intake.
For more information please call or email Katie Birch at Nutrition Australia on 02 6162 2583 or [email protected] and
either Katie or Kristy Parsons will work with you and your canteen.