Excellent nutrition in Hamburger Kitas

Hamburg's daycare for healthy eating excellent

06/12/2011

For children, a balanced diet is particularly important. Therefore, the German Society for Nutrition (DGE) has been some time ago „Quality standards for meals in daycare facilities for children“ designed to ensure a reasonable standard of day care. Now, the facilities of the Association Hamburger Kindertagesstätten for compliance with the DGE recommendations of the Federal Minister of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection, Ilse Aigner (CSU), with the certificate „Fit Kid“ excellent.

The association Hamburger Kindertagesstätten looks after around one third of the daycare children in Hamburg in its 178 institutions. The daily meals of the children are subject to strict guidelines regarding the nutrient and vitamin content of the food as well as its fat and sugar content. As far as nutrition is concerned, the facilities of the Vereinigung Hamburger Kindertagesstätten are a nationwide role model, according to the Federal Minister of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection. For the efforts for a healthy nutrition of the Kita children, the institutions of the Association of Hamburg day care centers were therefore currently with the „Fit Kid“ Certificate awarded that ensures wholesome and healthy food in accordance with the dietary recommendations of the DGE.

Trend-setting signal for the nutrition of Kita children from Hamburg
The facilities of the association Hamburger Kindertagesstätten offer children a daily diet rich in fruit and whole grains, low fat and sugar as well as a mineral water or tea as a beverage. Thus, the food is expressly in accordance with the principles of „Quality standards for meals in daycare facilities for children“ the German Nutrition Society, as the statement by the Federal Minister of Food for the current award with the „Fit Kid“ Certificate. However, not only the food itself, but also the preparation of most meals on the ground in the award-winning Hamburg daycare exemplary, said the Federal Minister of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection, the current award of the 178 institutions with the seal of quality. That such a large number of facilities in a city meet the needs of the DGE „Quality standards for meals in daycare facilities for children“ is fair, according to the Federal Minister of Food is so far unique. „The signal that they send here from Hamburg should notice the whole country. It is trend-setting“, stressed Ilse Aigner at the announcement of the award on Tuesday.

24,000 kindergarten children enjoy a particularly healthy diet
With the initiative „Fit Kid - The Healthy Eating Action for Kitas“ should the action plan „In form - Germany's initiative for healthy eating and more exercise“ continue to be driven forward, not least because the diseases caused by unhealthy diets have increased significantly in recent years and today heavily burden the health system, Ilse Aigner explained. According to the Minister, the balanced diet in day-care centers should be seen as an investment in the future, which should help to avoid further negative consequences of the unhealthy diet. The facilities of the Association Hamburger Kindertagesstätte is exemplary here. However, there is still need for action in other institutions and in particular in the schools of Hamburg. The president of the German Nutrition Society, Ulrike Arens-Azevedo, stated in connection with the current award that she hopes that Hamburg's schools will also set an example at day care centers. In this way, significantly more adolescents could be provided with a balanced diet in the future. However, this should not diminish the recognition of positive approaches in day care centers. Already today, according to the Hamburg City Parliament President Carola Veit (SPD) on the Association of Hamburg day care centers around 24,000 children in the Elbe city with a consistently healthy diet. (Fp)

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Picture: Melanie Mieske