On another sweltering day in Sydney, the humble school lunchbox is also susceptible to nasties.
NSW Health is urging families to take extra care when packing their children’s lunches and snacks during the hot weather.
Deputy director of the office of preventive health and NSW healthy children initiative manager, Christine Innes-Hughes, says high temperatures means food taken from home needs to be kept cool in storage containers.
“Kids need to be fuelled and hydrated well and their lunch needs to be safe,” she said.
“Keeping the food in the lunchbox food cool is very important to stop food from spoiling, which could make a child unwell, and it will be more appetising too.
“Try using a cooler bag or an insulated lunch box and don’t forget to include a freezer brick or frozen bottle of water. It not only keeps food cool but provides a cool drink.”
She also suggests providing vegetables, fruit, yoghurt or milk poppers, wholegrain bread, wraps, crackers, noodles, pasta or rice, lean meat, chicken, eggs, cheese or legumes such as falafel or lentil patties.
“Children get about a third of their daily food intake during the school day, so it’s important to give them healthy options,” she said.
“Kids love carrot and celery sticks, corn cobs, baby cucumbers, cherry tomatoes and snow peas. Small fruit such as grapes and kiwi fruit can be packed in small containers or snap lock bags.”
While some packaged snacks such as muesli bars, plain rice cakes and air popped popcorn can sometimes be practical additions in lunchboxes, the best way to choose the healthiest options is by choosing those with a Health Star Rating of 3.5 stars or above, she said.
“Make sure that any food that comes home in the lunchbox is not eaten and wash and dry the lunch box thoroughly ready for the next day,” she said.
In 2018-19 the NSW Government is investing $38 million to tackle obesity, $25 million of which has been allocated specifically to fighting childhood obesity.