Appropriate arrangement of the school canteen may contribute to the fact that children will more often eat fruit and vegetables instead of fries and bars – informs the EurekAlert website.
Researchers at the Food and Brand Lab at Cornell University in New York City set out to see if changing the setting of the salad buffet would make high school students start using it more.
It wasn’t a big change, says researcher Laura Smith. We moved the salad buffet that had previously stood against the wall and set it up in front of the cash registers.
After one year of observations, scientists noticed that sales of some salad buffet products increased by as much as 250-300 percent, and the number of students eating in the canteen increased by 6 percent.
This is a fundamental behavioral economy – we’ve made it easier for them to make the right choice, explains Smith, who, together with her colleagues, encourages simple and cheap changes in schools that will affect children’s food choices (Smarter Lunchroom Initiative).
Smith notes that students often do not want to queue for a hot meal at the expense of time spent with their peers, so they choose quick but less healthy snacks. The main mistake, according to the researcher, is placing salads, fruit and milk in the same row as warm dishes. They should be in a separate place, but far away from tempting unhealthy snacks (PAP)