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Healthy options vending machines help schools' bank balance

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Not only can vending machines with healthy options be good for students, but they can help a school's bank balance too, a pilot study has found.

The Food Standards Agency funded the study, which put machines containing healthier drinks, such as water, fruit juice and milk into 12 secondary schools, to go alongside their usual vending machines. It found that, given the option, students will frequently choose healthier options

About 70,000 healthier drinks were bought from the machines during the 24 weeks of the project, the most popular being pure juices, flavoured milk and milkshakes, semi-skimmed milk and mineral water.



The key to success was found to be involving students in the decisions made about the machine, its products and prices. The more successful schools used a 'whole school' approach to healthier eating so the vending machines support healthier eating messages given in lessons.

Other key pointers for success were:

-- Where the machine is placed

-- Commitment of staff to ensure the machines are working and have a range of products

-- Vending machines that are flexible enough to contain a range of products and capacity to meet demand

-- A system to record sales and students' feedback

'This study shows that providing healthier drinks vending in schools can be economically viable if managed properly,' said Food Standards Agency nutritionist Sam Church. 'This research is a positive step towards encouraging young people to choose healthier alternatives to fizzy and sugary drinks.'

If extended to just one in five secondary schools in England and Wales, an extra 14 million bottles and cartons of healthier drinks would be sold each year to students.

The Agency is planning to develop a practical guide for schools to introducing healthier drinks vending machines. This will include more detail on how to make the project successful and commercially sound.

Healthier drinks vending pilot study:
http://www.foodstandards.gov.uk/multimedia/pdfs/vendingreport.pdf

Healthier drinks vending pilot study
Lay summary of the vending project
http://www.foodstandards.gov.uk/multimedia/webpage/healhierdrinkspilot

Vending machines pilot study: your questions answered
http://www.foodstandards.gov.uk/news/newsarchive/vendingmachinesqanda/

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