Exam Success!
One of our national nursery clients has recently embarked on a programme to train all staff responsible for catering to the Level 3 Award in Food Safety. This meets their legal requirement for all staff to be trained in food safety to a level "commensurate with their work activity". Naturally we were pleased to assist with delivering this training. The course requires a greater depth of knowledge than the single day Level 2 course and focuses in on the role of a supervisor in managing food safety. In a nursery based setting, which includes babies as well as infants, the importance of the role cannot be over emphasised. After completing their course of study the first delegates to complete this training sat their exam and we're pleased to announce they were successful! Our 100% pass rate with the Level 3 in Food Safety course has been maintained! If you would like to discuss completing the Level 3 course with us then don't hesitate to contact us on 01780 411015 or email info@mgtraining.co.uk
More from MG Training: Level 3 Food Safety in Catering for Early Years
New guidelines for nutrition in preschools
New guidelines on nutrition for preschool children, aimed at reducing obesity, have been published.
The advice includes information on what food young children should eat, recipes and help for fussy eaters.
The guidelines, from the School Food Trust, follows a report which said that some young children were being given food better suited to adults.
The report said that more than a fifth of children were overweight or obese when they started school.
The School Food Trust said the new voluntary guidelines were a nationally recognised source of information on food for young children, aimed at nurseries, childminders and other providers of services for preschoolers.
The need for clearer guidance was flagged up two years ago by an independent panel of experts on food and nutrition in the early years.
The panel highlighted the fact that while many childcare providers were doing an excellent job, some had not taken on board the particular nutrition needs of very young children.
The result was that some children were being given too much salt and sugar and too little energy in the form of carbohydrate and fat.
Sometimes their diets lacked fruit and vegetables, and dietary fibre. They were often also short of essential minerals like iron and zinc.
Tooth decay
The new guidelines advised those cooking for young children to establish good eating habits.
There was also information on how to provide a varied diet for the under-fives and how to avoid too much saturated fat, sugar and salt which can contribute to weight gain, tooth decay and poor nutrient intake.
Children's Minister Sarah Teather said: "Healthy eating is at the heart of helping every child get the best start in life.
"Nurseries play a vital role in getting children from all backgrounds to develop good eating habits - but many lack the expert knowledge of what is the best food to serve."
The guidelines were also welcomed by childcare providers.
Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Pre-school Learning Alliance, said the code of practice would help them "navigate through the maze of information about what food and drink is nutritionally appropriate for young children".
The National Day Nurseries Association said it would be working with its member nurseries to implement the guidelines.
The School Food Trust said it intended to pilot the new guidelines with five local authorities, with more joining the scheme later in 2012.
Source: BBC News
More from MG Training: Nutrition Courses
2012 Early Years Training Dates Released
2011 has been a busy year at MG Training. We've delivered more courses than ever, launched a new website which means we can now take bookings online and moved our office to bigger premises! It's no surprise then that we are all geared up for 2012 and are ready and raring to go!
Environment Health Officers and OFSTED are asking more and more settings if cooks, managers and supervisors hold a higher level food safety qualification - something required by law. So we're offering two courses leading to the Level 3 Award in Food Safety over the next few months to satisfy this need. Book today to ensure your place on the course.
Instances of back injuries through bad moving and handling in the childcare sector is increasing. Our Moving and Handling course teaches you how to do this correctly, reduces the risk of injury and satisfies your legal requirements as far as training is concerned. The course is proving increasingly popular. Why not work with other local providers to arrange a course of your own?
We've also included dates for all of our courses through to April 2012 which you can continue to book online at www.mgtraining.co.uk or by calling us on 01780 411015
Enjoy the start of the new term and fingers crossed it's snow free :-)
Fair-skinned people may need extra vitamin D
Fair-skinned people who are prone to sunburn may need to take supplements to ensure they get enough vitamin D, say experts. It appears that those with pale skin, while not deficient, may still be lacking in the essential vitamin that the body makes from sunlight. The Cancer Research UK-funded team say that even with a lot of sun exposure, those with fair skin may not be able to make enough vitamin D. And too much sun causes skin cancer. Clearly, for this reason, increasing sun exposure is not the way to achieve higher vitamin D levels in the fair-skinned population, say the researchers. But taking supplements could be. Their work examined 1,200 people. Of these, 730 were found to have "lower than optimal" vitamin D levels - and many of these were people with very pale, freckled skin. Supplements are already recommended for groups at higher risk of deficiency. This includes people with dark skin, such as people of African-Caribbean and South Asian origin, and people who wear full-body coverings, as well as the elderly, young children, pregnant and breastfeeding women and people who avoid the sun. Based on the latest findings, it appears that pale-skinned people should be added to this list. Vitamin D is important for healthy bones and teeth. A level less than 25nmol/L in the blood is a deficiency, but experts increasingly believe that lower than 60nmol/L are suboptimal and can also be damaging to health. Most people get enough vitamin D with short exposures to the sun (10 to 15 minutes a day). A small amount also comes from the diet in foods like oily fish and dairy products. But people with fair skin do not seem to be able to get enough, according to Prof Julia Newton-Bishop and her team at the University of Leeds. Part of the reason might be that people who burn easily are more likely to cover up and avoid the sun. But some fair-skinned individuals also appear to be less able to make and process vitamin D in the body, regardless of how long they sit in the sun for. Prof Newton-Bishop said: "It's very difficult to give easy advice that everyone can follow. There's no one-size-fits-all. "However, fair-skinned individuals who burn easily are not able to make enough vitamin D from sunlight and so may need to take vitamin D supplements." Hazel Nunn, of Cancer Research UK, said: "It is about striking a balance between the benefits and harms of sun exposure. "People with fair skin are at higher risk of developing skin cancer and should take care to avoid over-exposure to the sun's rays. "If people are concerned about their vitamin D levels, they should see their doctor who may recommend a vitamin D test." She said it was too soon to start recommending supplements, but said most people could safely take 10 micrograms a day of vitamin D without any side-effects.
Source: BBC News
Children's packed lunches 'lack fruit and veg'
Parents are failing to put enough fruit and veg into their children's packed lunches, health experts have warned. The School Food Trust, which examined 3,500 packed lunches in England in 2009, says about 40% of lunchboxes do not contain any fruit or vegetables, compared with 10% of school dinners. It said parents should consider switching to school meals. Meanwhile, the World Cancer Research Fund has set up a website to give parents advice on healthier lunchboxes. It says the same sort of changes as those made when TV chef Jamie Oliver championed school dinners are now needed. It wants parents to ensure their children's packed lunches always contain at least two portions of fruits and vegetables. WCRF head of education Kate Mendoza said: "There is no doubt Jamie Oliver helped achieve great things for the food served in school canteens. But as the nutritional content of school canteen meals has improved, the healthiness of the content of lunchboxes has been left behind. "It is disappointing that children are going to school with lunchboxes that are not playing their part in helping to encourage the kind of healthy diet that is so important for their future. "This is why we want to get across the message to parents that including a piece of fruit or using a portion of salad as a filling for a sandwich are positive things they can do for their children's health. "It can sometimes be difficult for parents to control what their children eat, particularly if they are passing shops on the way home from school or visiting their friends. But parents can influence what is in their packed lunches and the fact that not all of them are doing so is a missed opportunity." She said they were aiming to advise parents about healthy options - rather than telling them what not to put in as has happened in the past. Patricia Mucavele, research and nutrition manager at the School Food Trust, which offers its own advice on packed lunches, said, "School lunches are now the most nutritious choice for children and young people. "Packed lunches aren't as nutritious as school meals - they are typically higher in saturated fat, sugar and salt, and often contain foods that can't be provided in schools, such as sweets and salted snacks. "Making healthy packed lunches that give children the variety they need in their diet takes a lot of time and effort. "We have previously estimated that parents could spend almost eight days a year making packed lunches that meet the national standards for school food. "And when you look at how the prices compare, it gives parents wanting to give their children good food, and save time and money, something to think about." The trust's 2009 Primary School Food Survey, included an in-depth look at the contents of almost 3,500 packed lunches across 135 schools in England. It found 58% of those with packed lunches had items that could count towards their "five a day" fruit and vegetable target, compared with over 90% of those eating school meals.
Source: Courtesy of BBC News
More from MG Training: Nutrition
