FoodChecker: Traffic Light System
You may have already noticed that in cafes and vending machines across Deakin campuses, foods and beverages have been labelled with a green, amber and red traffic light system classification. The Deakin Food Charter introduced this amazing system to help guide your healthy food making decisions within the food environment at Deakin.
Where does the traffic light system come from?
The traffic light classification labels come from the Victorian Government’s Healthy Choices guidelines and categorises foods and drinks into three groups. The guidelines aim to support the offering of healthy food and drinks in hospitals, health services, sports and recreation centres, parks and workplace environments. The Healthy Eating Advisory Service’s free FoodChecker tool enables you to review recipes and menus to generate a colour classification based on the nutritional value of the food and guides you with recommendations and modifications to make them healthier.
GREEN – best choice
AMBER – choose carefully
RED – limit intake
You’ll notice across all the recipes carefully selected for you; we have included their FoodChecker classification. Upon reviewing the recipes in FoodChecker, we achieved 70% GREEN and 30% AMBER; providing modifications to make those amber recipes green!
Here are a few tips to help you achieve a GREEN/AMBER rating in your kitchen:
- Add as many fruits and vegetables as possible to your recipes; this will up the nutritive quality of your meals and help you reach your daily targets!
- Try not to add salt; you can boost up the flavour of your meals with the addition of a range of herbs and spices. Try opting for a salt-reduced option when selecting stocks, tomato pastes, sauces and canned foods.
- Choose reduced-fat dairy products; a simple swap when purchasing yoghurt, cheese and milk
- Replace butter and oils with Extra virgin olive oil
- When purchasing canned fruit, choose those in their natural juices not in syrups.