FoodStep - a Sustainable Model for Food Services and Early Childhood Education and Care

Sponsor

Suvi Virtanen (Other)

Overall Status

Active, not recruiting

CT.gov ID

NCT05249946

Collaborator

University of Helsinki (Other), Natural Resources Institute Finland (Other), Laurea University of Applied Sciences (Other)

116

Enrollment

Location

Arms

35.1

Anticipated Duration (Months)

3.3

Patients Per Site Per Month

Study Details

Study Description

Brief Summary

Transformation towards a more climate-friendly and healthy sustainable diet will require major changes in the food system: increase in consumption of plant-based foods and only moderate consumption of animal-based foods. In the FoodStep -project, the investigators will develop a sustainable model for food system that reduces the climate impacts of the food system in early childhood education and care. The impact of the changes on children's nutrition, the climate impact of the diet, and the cost of food services will be assessed in a randomised controlled trial. In addition, the effects of the model on the knowledge and attitudes of decision-makers, experts in food service and early childhood education, and families are studied. Based on the project, the model can be applied nationally as part of Finland's climate change mitigation and adaptation strategy. Study aim to a sustainable food system reform through concrete guidelines, communication, and action initiatives.

Condition or Disease	Intervention/Treatment	Phase
Healthy	Other: FoodStep - a sustainable health-promoting model for food services and early childhood education and care	N/A

Study Design

Study Type:

Interventional

Actual Enrollment :

116 participants

Allocation:

Randomized

Intervention Model:

Parallel Assignment

Intervention Model Description:

Cluster-randomized TrialCluster-randomized Trial

Masking:

None (Open Label)

Primary Purpose:

Other

Official Title:

FoodStep - a Sustainable Model for Food Services and Early Childhood Education and Care

Actual Study Start Date :

Nov 29, 2021

Anticipated Primary Completion Date :

Nov 1, 2024

Anticipated Study Completion Date :

Nov 1, 2024

Arms and Interventions

Arm	Intervention/Treatment
Experimental: Intervention group increasing provision of vegetables and sustainable fish in food offered in early childhood education and care (ECEC) and adjusting intake of meat and milk to reasonable levels to meet recommendations advancing food education, reducing food waste and assessing the climate and financial impacts of the shift towards a more plant-based diet	Other: FoodStep - a sustainable health-promoting model for food services and early childhood education and care The investigators create a sustainable food system model that reduces the climate impact of the food system in early childhood education and care. In practice, the investigators i) promote plant-rich recipes, sustainable food purchases and consumption through municipality food services, ii) renew food education, and iii) reduce food waste in early education and care. To ensure the feasibility and long-term commitment, the investigators bring together municipal stakeholders and key actors within the food system and education sectors to co-create the content of a sustainable food system intervention. The randomized controlled intervention will be carried out at 26 daycare centers within four municipalities in Finland. The impact of the changes at a food system level on children's dietary intake and nutritional status, costs of the whole food system, the climate impact of the menus and children's diets as well as food waste in the daycare centers will be examined.
No Intervention: Control group Food supply and food education continue as usual.

Arm

Intervention/Treatment

Experimental: Intervention group

increasing provision of vegetables and sustainable fish in food offered in early childhood education and care (ECEC) and adjusting intake of meat and milk to reasonable levels to meet recommendations advancing food education, reducing food waste and assessing the climate and financial impacts of the shift towards a more plant-based diet

Other: FoodStep - a sustainable health-promoting model for food services and early childhood education and care

The investigators create a sustainable food system model that reduces the climate impact of the food system in early childhood education and care. In practice, the investigators i) promote plant-rich recipes, sustainable food purchases and consumption through municipality food services, ii) renew food education, and iii) reduce food waste in early education and care. To ensure the feasibility and long-term commitment, the investigators bring together municipal stakeholders and key actors within the food system and education sectors to co-create the content of a sustainable food system intervention. The randomized controlled intervention will be carried out at 26 daycare centers within four municipalities in Finland. The impact of the changes at a food system level on children's dietary intake and nutritional status, costs of the whole food system, the climate impact of the menus and children's diets as well as food waste in the daycare centers will be examined.

No Intervention: Control group

Food supply and food education continue as usual.

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

Change in daycare diet of the children [Before the intervention and 1 year after the intervention]
The investigators assess the change in vegetable, red meat and milk supply at daycare measured with Food Frequency Questionnaire.
Change in climate impact of Food System model at systemic level [Before the intervention and 1 year after the intervention]
The investigators assess the change in carbon footprint of daycare food supply.
Change in food service cost of Food System model at systemic level [Before the intervention and 1 year after the intervention]
The investigators assess how the costs change at food services due to the food system intervention and how cost-effective is the food system intervention compared to the food system as usual. Data comes from accounting of food services and book keeping: time spent to different tasks in food services.