Restaurants embrace the City’s healthy eating drive
08-12-2014
The City of Johannesburg’s drive to deal with non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity under its Healthy Lifestyle Programme was taken a step further at the weekend with the launch of the City’s Nutritional Pledge.
Through the pledge, which was launched by Member of the Mayoral Committee for Health and Social Development Councillor Nonceba Molwele, the City seeks to form partnerships with food outlets and encourage them to offer residents healthy and balanced menu alternatives.
Several restaurants and hotels in the city have already signed the pledge.
The Healthy Lifestyle Programme was launched by Johannesburg Executive Mayor Councillor Parks Tau in May last year to increase the city’s life expectancy by tackling non-communicable diseases. Through the programme, the City encourages residents to engage in physical activity such as running, walking and cycling and to adopt healthy eating.
The programme covers a wide range of stakeholders, including schools, early childhood development centres and informal traders.
Recent studies have revealed that Johannesburg is third on the obesity scale in the country.
“Our country is slowly eating itself to death; we cannot fold our arms and accept this as our future,” MMC Molwele said at the launch of the Nutritional Pledge.
The MMC said the pledge, which she described as “an exciting initiative”, was aimed at improving the quality of life and increasing the longevity of Johannesburg residents.
“The Nutritional Pledge is a meaningful partnership that harnesses the expertise of the South African Chefs’ Association (SACA) and the University of Johannesburg’s School of Tourism and Hospitality,” MMC Molwele said.
She said by offering healthy lifestyle choices and creating a culture change, Johannesburg would start benefiting from a reduction in non-communicable diseases.
MMC Molwele encouraged more restaurants and other food outlets to come on board and partner with the City in dealing with this scourge by signing the Nutritional Pledge.
She explained that this meant agreeing to be advised and to add or adopt suggested alternatives to current offerings on their menus.
Aikona Melani of the University of Johannesburg’s School of Tourism and Hospitality, said minimum requirements were developed using the 11 South African-based diet guidelines, the food pyramid and the South African Guide for Healthy Eating.
“Our minimum standards are a basic guide on cooking methods, food preparation, portion control and beverage offerings. They’re a guide to making healthier options more accessible, visible and affordable,” said Melani.
Elsu Gericke, Certification Manager at SACA, said the “credible partnership” would raise hygiene standards.
“To be accredited, restaurants and other food outlets will have to prove they adhere to or meet the requirements. We will be using the guidelines to work with restaurants and other food outlets to improve their offerings, provide education and guidance to assist food handlers and restaurant owners on best practices while educating the public about making better, more informed healthy eating choices,” said Gericke.
Choosing Healthy Options Wisely (CHOW), a mobile application developed and guided by dieticians and nutritionists who incentivise healthy options by a points reward system, has also come on board.