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The Right Bite Food and Drink Supply Standards apply in all settings where food and drinks are offered or sold to students.
Find out more about applying the standards at your school canteen.
Who should use the Right Bite standards
If you’re involved in preparing, coordinating or supplying food and drinks for students, you should familiarise yourself with the standards. This applies to:
- canteen staff and volunteers
- school canteen providers on school sites
- local food providers that provide canteen services to schools
- staff or governing council members and event volunteers who support canteen services in their school.
The standards compliment other strategies in schools that promote healthy food and drink behaviours, including learning opportunities through the curriculum. When you support the standards, you’re helping children:
- develop strong food literacy skills
- access a range of foods that are both nourishing and tasty.
Professional development for South Australian Government school canteen managers
To support school canteens to align their menu with Right Bite school food and drink supply standards, we are offering free online training for school canteen managers.
The online training consists of 8 modules and provides school canteen managers with the knowledge and skills to offer safe, nutritious food in a financially viable manner. The training is provided by the Federation of Canteens in Schools.
The free training is available to South Australian government school canteen managers. Canteen managers from external vendors or services are not eligible for this training opportunity.
Applications close Friday 31 May 2024.
For more information about the online training for school canteen managers email education.RightBite@sa.gov.au.
Tips for improving your canteen menu
Hear canteen manager Ash share tips on improving your canteen menu.
Video transcript for tips for improving your canteen menu
Ashleigh Gibson:
So in our school canteen we try to make well, we actually make everything fresh. Which might sound like it's difficult, but it's easier than you think.
So we use a lot of items more than once.
So we would do things like make a veggie packed tomato sauce.
If we can, we get items from a school garden, if you have that opportunity, that's great.
If not, we use fresh vegetables and we add everything we can into that sauce to make it as nutritious as possible.
And then we use that to make the pizza base as well.
We make dough without any salt. So it's basically just very simple ingredients.
We add small amounts of cheese, some ham, but most of that is filled with vegetables.
End of transcript.
Canteen menus
The standards aim to make sure that food and drinks offered or sold at school can:
- offer variety that children and young people enjoy
- help students grow and learn.
Align your menu with the standards by using the green, amber and red categories.
The FoodChecker online tool can assess your products and menu items against the green, amber and red categories. It can provide alternative products or recipe ingredients to decrease the number and range of red and amber category foods, and increase green category items.
Green category – best options
Green category food and drinks should make up the majority of options on the canteen menu, with 60% as the recommended target. Offering a wide range will help students make healthier choices.
Green category food and drinks are:
- usually healthier choices
- a good source of nutrients
- low in saturated fat
- low in added sugar
- higher in fibre.
Food and drinks that are classified as green options are based on the 5 food groups in the Australian Guide to Healthy eating. These include:
- grain (cereal) foods, mostly wholegrain and high fibre cereal varieties
- vegetables, legumes and beans
- fruit
- milk, yoghurt, cheese and their alternatives, mostly reduced-fat
- lean meat and poultry, fish, eggs, tofu, nuts and seeds, legumes and beans.
Tap water is the best choice for children and young people. Make sure tap water is clean, safe, free, always available and easy to access. You can offer access to water in a safe dedicated area at your canteen site or, if it’s nearby, promote bubblers, taps or drink fountains.
Amber category – choose carefully
Limit amber food and drinks, with a maximum of 40% of available options as the recommended target.
Amber food and drinks should be consumed less often and in smaller quantities than green foods and drinks. Offering smaller portions of these options will limit intake. See Wellbeing SA easy and nutritious snacks and meal swaps.
While they provide some valuable nutrients, amber options tend to contain:
- moderate amounts of saturated fat
- added sugar
- salt.
Amber foods include, for example:
- some yoghurts
- lightly salted popcorn
- some homemade cakes and muffins.
Amber food and drink portion sizes
Amber food and drinks should be consumed less often and in smaller quantities than green foods and drinks. Offering smaller portions of these options will limit intake.
Red 1 category – limit to twice per term
Red 1 food and drinks should only be sold to students up to twice per term, as part of whole of school celebrations or fundraising events. They may be sold from a canteen or stall.
School committees and leadership staff should work together to make sure these items are only made available up to twice per school term.
Red 1 category food and drinks are based on the ‘discretionary’ options in the Australian Dietary Guidelines. These foods:
- are high in saturated fat
- have added sugar or salt
- tend to be low in nutritional value and fibre.
Red 1 food includes, but is not limited to:
- cakes and muffins (medium to large serves), slices, sweet pastries, donuts, croissants, cream filled buns
- savoury pastries, such as pies, pasties, sausage rolls
- other savoury hot or cold foods, such as noodles, crumbed and coated foods, hot dogs and frankfurts
- savoury snack foods such as crisps, chips, biscuits
- most ice-creams.
Depending on their serve size and nutritional value, some items can be classified as amber options. This can vary between brands using different manufacturing processes.
Red 2 category – should not be supplied to students
Red 2 food and drinks should not be supplied, provided or sold to students at school. They provide limited nutritional benefit and some contain ingredients that may be unsafe for children.
Red 2 category food and drinks are based on the ‘discretionary’ options in the Australian Dietary Guidelines. Red 2 food and drinks include, but are not limited to:
- deep fried foods
- all confectionery, including chocolate and fruit-based confectionery
- food and drinks with added sweeteners – these non-sugar food additives include artificial sweeteners, nutritive sweeteners such as sucrose, or natural intense sweeteners such as stevia
- sugar sweetened drinks, carbonated drinks, drinks containing guarana or caffeine, flavoured mineral water, sports waters, protein waters, high protein drinks, kombucha
- fruit-based slushies in serving sizes more than 250ml per serve.
Check your products and menu items
Use the Wellbeing SA FoodChecker to assess your products and menu items. The tool will provide alternative products or recipe ingredients to:
- decrease the number and range of red 1 items
- identify any red 2 items that should be removed.
Promotions and marketing
The standards outline acceptable promotions and marketing of food and drinks in schools.
Green category
Promoting a variety of green category will encourage students to select the healthier food and drinks.
Ways that you can promote green options could be in:
- meal deals
- posters
- newsletter updates
- displaying green category options in prominent positions, such as front counters within student line of sight in canteens.
If you use apps to promote your menu, feature green category menu items first.
Red category
There should be no red 1 or red 2 food and drinks marketing. This includes the use of:
- posters, flags and banners
- straw or serviette holders
- promotional stands and counter signs
- marketing on catering equipment such as fridges, freezers and product stands.
This is in line with the donations, sponsorships and promotions instruction for schools and preschools (staff login required).
Tips and ideas
Visit healthy food and drink choices for tips and ideas on how you can promote green options over amber or red food choices.
Food safety
Food and drink supplied to students must be safe to consume. Handling, storage and service practices must align with current food safety regulations and advice.
See food safety for food and drink provided in schools for more information.
Packaging and food waste
Food and beverage packaging, food waste and its disposal should adhere to school environmental policies and legislation.
South Australian single use packaging legislation has clear rules about packaging types that can no longer be sold, supplied or distributed.
See packaging, single use plastics and food waste in schools for more information.
