30 March 2010

1 minute read

Oceania

Meat and Livestock Australia has formed a strong partnership with Japanese schools through two programmes, the "Aussie Beef school lunch contest", and food education school visits (shokuiku) that has reached over 5,000 children and parents nationwide.

The school lunch contest was first held nine years ago, in order to encourage further usage of Australian beef in school meals. The activity has received strong support from the National School Nutritionists Association (Zengakuei), who also select winning recipes. There were 1,923 applications this year, and 33 recipes were selected to be included in a “Aussie Beef school lunch cook book” for distribution nationwide.

The other key programme – shokuiku school visits started five years ago, with the aim to educate school children and their parents on the safety and health benefits of Australian red meat.

More than 50 schools have participated in MLA’s shokuiku programme – aptly named “Want to learn more about Aussie beef” – over the past five years. The activity receives full support from parents, teachers and head-masters of schools, as the programme does not solely focus on the Australian red meat, but also teaches children about the Australian climate, native animals, and multicultural population. The educational session is followed by an Aussie Beef lunch, often cooked by children themselves. Over 30,000 copies of Aussie Beef shokuiku booklets have been distributed nationwide.

TheCattleSite News Desk