Balanced nutrition! New Taipei City's 4-season recipes for children released

Healthy eating for preschool children is given great attention. The New Taipei City Health Bureau has commissioned nutritionists to design staple foods and snacks based on whole grains and root vegetables, and has announced four-season menus suitable for children aged 1 to 6. The recipes will be published directly on the official website of the Health Bureau. Currently, recipes suitable for children aged 4-6 have been printed and are available free of charge at health centers in all 29 districts.

New Taipei City Health Bureau Director Lin Xuerong (center) explains the healthy menu to preschool children. (Photo courtesy of New Taipei City Health Bureau)

Health Bureau Director-General Lin Hsueh-jung said that New Taipei City has 352 public kindergartens, 945 private kindergartens, and four public childcare centers, for a total of 1,301. In order to comprehensively build a safe, healthy and correct eating environment for young children, the Health Bureau commissioned a professional team last year to complete a survey and guidance on food hygiene and safety, as well as nutrition in 200 kindergartens and nurseries. This year, the guidance will be expanded to 400 kindergartens.

According to last year's survey report, the food safety compliance rate was 91%. As for nutrition, it was generally good, but there were still some discrepancies. The highest percentage of items that did not meet the nutrition survey were that the menu was not published on the kindergarten website on a regular monthly basis (38.0%), there was no dedicated person to design the meal menu (20.5%), whole grains were not used at least once a week, or root vegetables did not replace refined grains (17.0%), at least one serving of dark green vegetables was not provided daily (14.5%), and milk or dairy products were not provided more than twice a week (14.0%).

Based on this survey report, the Health Bureau has designed two series of healthy recipes for four-season rotating menus, suitable for babies aged 1-3 and 4-6 respectively. Among them, the summer recipes suitable for 4-6 years old have been printed and placed in the health centers in 29 districts for free collection by the public.

This set of healthy recipes for the four-season cycle menu is compiled according to spring, summer, autumn and winter. The public is welcome to download it from the official website of the Health Bureau. (Photo taken from the New Taipei City Health Bureau official website)

Director Lin Xuerong emphasized that this set of healthy recipes for the four-season cycle menu is compiled into a set according to spring, summer, autumn and winter. There are a total of 8 sets, and each set (season) is thoughtfully designed for 30 days. The menu includes 1 main meal and 2 snacks per day. It not only provides ingredients, portions and cooking methods, but also nutritional analysis and ingredients, providing babies with a complete and balanced diet from 1 year old to before entering elementary school, so that babies will have a strong head and a healthy body. The public is welcome to visit the official website of the Health Bureau at http://www.health.ntpc.gov.tw/ to download the Food Hygiene Safety Network.