WATCH: The B.C. government has extended its healthy snacks program for schoolchildren, but are they getting fruits and veggies the right way?
“Who here likes eating fruits and vegetables?” asked Education Minister Peter Fassbender to a class of Grade 5 students at a Victoria school today.
En masse, the students raised their hands.
Ten years after the government introduced a program to get B.C. fruits and vegetables into schools, the number of students eating healthy foods in class continues to grow.
But fruit juice? That may decline in future years.
“It is, in some people’s minds, not a good thing to be drinking too much fruit juice,” said Minister of Health Terry Lake.
“So we always have to be looking at the new data as it comes in and evaluate it, year by year, but it’s something we’ll be looking at.”
Last week, the federal government said they were considering whether fruit juice should be squeezed out as a healthy dietary choice under Canada’s Food Guide.
Health Canada “is in the process of reviewing the evidence base for its current guidance to Canadians,” the federal department said in an emailed statement late Tuesday.
“Depending on the conclusions of the scientific review, guidance for consumption of various foods, including juice, could be updated in the future.”
Obesity experts have long argued that fruit juices should be removed from the Food Guide because of their high sugar content and the number of pound-packing calories they contain.
Lake said they would be watching Health Canada’s decision closely.
“There is some concern that too much fruit juice is causing some problems for some kids. So I think we’ll wait to see what Health Canada says, but it’s certainly something we’re cognitive of.”
His comments came after announcing $3.5 million in funding to extend the BC School Fruit and Vegetable Nutritional Program. Created a decade ago, over 1,463 schools — nearly 90 per cent of public and First Nations schools — receive fresh fruits and vegetables and milk from B.C., 13 times a year.
Lake thinks the program has had a positive impact in changing children’s snacking habits.
“In the old days, they might have wanted the Ding Dong and Wagon Wheel and things like that,” he said.
“This is a healthy alternate choice that I think a lot of kids now see as something they want, not something that’s forced upon them.”
– With files from The Canadian Press