UK seafood authority, Seafish, has launched a new schools’ programme to reinforce its work to educate children on the benefits of eating seafood and to address the “lack of a formal framework for nutrition education within schools.”
In order to do this it’s working with a number of seafood industry partners, including Young’s Seafood, to pilot the project in North Lincolnshire, before rolling it out to the rest of the UK later in the year.
The initiative has been designed to encourage early year’s children to discover more about seafood and encourage them to embrace fish and shellfish as part of a healthy, balanced diet. Thirty-five schools throughout North Lincolnshire have already signed up to the programme, meaning that Seafish will be reaching a target audience of 2970 pupils.
The project involves industry partners working with local schools and groups through visits, offering expert advice and practical, hands-on, hosted activities.
Jo Dunlop, promotions and marketing manager, Seafish, said to World Fishing & Aquaculture: “Research tells us that the eating habits children develop before they are five influence their lifelong eating preferences. And we know that caregivers (such as parents and teachers) directly influence the foods that a child is exposed to. So if we can help to introduce children to fish at a younger age, parents can have more confidence that their children will eat fish and therefore include it in the family diet at home.”
Duncan Lucas, a seafood specialist from Young’s Seafood, added: It’s critical for the seafood industry going forward that we market the health values of seafood, oily fish and vitamins, encouraging consumers to eat seafood at least twice a week.”
Seafish will also be delivering a number of fun and engaging educational initiatives for family members of all ages. This includes the Healthy Happy Hearts programme, which highlights the importance of the Omega-3 fatty acids for good heart health, and support during the British Nutrition Foundation’s (BNF) Healthy Eating Week (3 to 7 June 2013).
Mercator Media Ltd 2013