A doughnut per second

8 November 2010 08:20 am

About 1800 doughnuts are sold every 30 minutes at a leading public school in Colombo. "We have decided to activate the School Canteen Act to curb these kinds of unhealthy activities", the Ministry of Health said.

The Health Ministry has confirmed that the three most popular public schools in the country have canteens that sell an array of unhealthy foods such as Thai, Indian and Chinese food to students.

“Some restaurants are specialized for Chinese, Italian or Indian food, but these canteens have all these kinds. This is unhealthy as it leads to Obesity and Diabetes,” Deputy Minister of Health Ministry, Mahinda Amaraweera said.

As a result, the Ministry has decided to activate the School Canteen Act, which states that school canteens should provide local, healthy foods and fresh fruit juices.

The act also mentions that artificial beverages and foods should not be made available to students. “A disciplinary action will be taken against a principal of any school that has failed to adhere to this act and the canteen will be also be closed down,” Mr. Amaraweera said. (MB)