New South Wales Consolidated Regulations

CHILDREN'S SERVICES REGULATION 2004 - REG 68

68 Food and nutrition

(1) Centre based or mobile children’s service The licensee of a centre based or mobile children’s service must ensure a policy is developed and maintained that:

(a) is consistent with the Food Act 2003 and the regulations under that Act, and

(b) is consistent with the Dietary Guide for Children, and

(c) ensures that each child provided with the service is given food and drinks that are nutritious, adequate in quantity, varied, offered at frequent intervals, appropriate to the developmental needs of the child and any special dietary needs of the child and appropriate to the culture and religion of the child, and

(d) provides a system for parents of a child to be given information about:

(i) the approach taken by the service to meet the nutritional needs of the child, and

(ii) the eating habits of the child, and

(e) outlines a program of nutrition education for primary contact staff covering the following matters:

(i) safe eating practices (including the eating environment),

(ii) understanding and handling eating behaviour of children (including refusal of food by children),

(iii) teaching children provided with the service about nutrition through food-related activities, and

(f) requires information to be given to parents of children provided with the service to assist them in providing food for the child that is varied, adequate in quantity, appropriate to the developmental needs of the child and consistent with the Dietary Guide for Children,

(g) requires information to be prominently displayed as to the service’s weekly menu for children’s meals,

(h) outlines practices for the preparation, storage, handling and hygiene of food,

(i) requires eating utensils and furniture used when eating to have a size and shape that encourage development of eating skills and independence in eating by children,

(j) requires primary contact staff to ensure that drinking water is provided and available to children at all times while the service is being provided.

(2) The authorised supervisor of a centre based or mobile children’s service must ensure that the policy referred to in subclause (1) is practised by each member of staff.

(3) Family day care or home based children’s service A family day care carer or home based licensee must ensure that:

(a) each child provided with the service is given food and drinks that are nutritious, adequate in quantity, varied, offered at frequent intervals, appropriate to the developmental needs of the child and any special dietary needs of the child and appropriate to the culture and religion of the child, and

(b) drinking water is available to children at all times while the service is being provided, and

(c) information is readily available to parents of a child that outlines:

(i) the approach taken by the family day care carer or home based licensee to meet the nutritional needs of the child, and

(ii) the eating habits of the child.

(4) The licensee and the authorised supervisor of a family day care children’s service must use their best endeavours to ensure that a family day care carer for the service complies with subclause (3).

(5) In this clause, "Dietary Guide for Children" means the guide published by the Department of Health under the title Caring for Children-Food, Nutrition and Fun Activities , Third Edition.