School Food
Tobago has a school meal programme (known as the school feeding programme of Tobago) that provides 110 000 lunches and 25 000 breakfasts for schoolchildren from pre-primary to secondary level every day. The programme employs a catering modality, where caterers are contracted by the government. Since 1984, the school nutrition unit of the Division of Education, Innovation and Energy under the Tobago House of Assembly has managed the programme. School principals, teachers and parents are responsible for identifying the beneficiaries. Additionally, the regional health authority's nutrition unit and counterparts in Trinidad support the school meal programme.
School lunches are developed following a five-week cycle (see example below) prepared by the nutrition officer of the school nutrition unit. The menus adhere to the six food groups from the Caribbean Food Plate, developed by the Caribbean Food and Nutrition Institute of Jamaica and prioritize using local produce whenever possible. Breakfasts also follow a five-week cycle (see example below).
The school nutrition unit is responsible for training caterers in menu preparation. Training topics include food practices, nutrition education, food safety and sanitation. Additionally, the unit's Food Service Quality Assurance Officers monitor the programme by visiting catering establishments to ensure compliance with quality and safety standards. During school visits, the officers also assess menu acceptance and food waste. On occasion, they are also involved in educating schoolchildren on proper etiquette and table manners.
Future plans include conducting tests to evaluate children's acceptability of specific meals and to better understand their food needs. Additionally, there are plans to introduce a training course for trainers and to broadly implement a dining and etiquette programme in schools. This programme aims to enhance the presentation of school meals by transitioning from eating out of a box to eating on a plate.
In Tobago some schools also have canteens or cafeterias and tuck shop vendors on and around the premises, offering snacks, drinks, and light meals to students. Some children also bring food from home.
In 2017, in response to the high consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages and rising rates of child obesity, the Ministry of Health published the Nutrition Standards for Food Offered for Sale in Schools in Trinidad and Tobago. These standards ban the sale of sugar-sweetened beverages, including soft drinks, juice drinks, flavoured water, sports and energy drinks, and milk-based drinks with added sugars. Schools are now only permitted to sell water, 100 percent fruit juices, low-fat milk, and blended vegetable or fruit drinks.