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Fifty-four chefs and staff of 22 school lunch suppliers responsible for designing and preparing lunch menus for schoolchildren received customised training at two workshops held yesterday and today (August 29).
The workshops were designed to refresh and reinforce their knowledge about food nutrition and skills in healthy cooking for children.
The programme, entitled Nutritional Cooking Training Workshop for Chefs, was jointly organised by the Department of Health and the Vocational Training Council, with input from lunchbox suppliers.
The workshops aimed to heighten the participants’ awareness of the nutritional requirements of schoolchildren aged 6 to 12, increase their knowledge about food and nutrition, and enhance cooking skills through interactive learning in the form of demonstration, practice and discussion.
Practical issues commonly encountered in the preparation of food served in lunch boxes were also raised in the workshop in a bid to find a workable solution.
A Department of Health spokesman said a healthy balanced school lunch could help children learn effectively and prevent diseases. It was therefore important that suppliers knew how to prepare tasty and healthy meals, and that parents supported their children to choose and develop a liking for the meals.
"Professional chefs and food traders play a critically important role here by paying greater attention to the selection of food ingredients based on their nutritional value and the design of recipes coupled with healthy cooking methods to prepare nutritious and tasty meals for the students," the spokesman said.
Certificates were presented to participants who completed the whole-day workshop and passed an assessment. Similar workshops may be run in the future if participants find them useful and informative.
The event was a key initiative of the EatSmart@school.hk campaign organised by the department in collaboration with relevant stakeholders to promote healthy eating among children.
Ends/Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Issued at HKT 17:32
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