FoodChecker
Get a free and instant report of the food and drinks you supply with our online assessment tool, FoodChecker!
Use FoodChecker to find out if the foods and drinks you supply are classified Everyday, Select Carefully, Occasionally, or as confectionery and high sugar content soft drinks according to the Victorian Government’s School Canteens and Other School Food Services Policy.
Whether your school has a canteen, external food service provider or occasional lunch orders, you can assess a whole menu, or assess individual products and recipes.
You can use FoodChecker to:
- assess your current menu against the policy to get recommendations for healthy changes
- plan a menu that meets the policy (ie, more than 50% of items are from the Everyday category, and there's no Occasionally items, or confectionery and high sugar content soft drinks).
- assess individual recipes
- classify individual products
- find healthier Everyday, Select Carefully products
When you use FoodChecker you will receive an instant report that you can read on screen or save as a PDF. It contains feedback on every food and drink you supply, and provides tailored recommendations for healthier changes to meet the requirements of the school canteen policy.
You can do an assessment anytime, anywhere, on any internet-connected device!
"FoodChecker is brilliant and makes assessing recipes so quick and easy."
- FoodChecker user
Using FoodChecker to assess and plan your school canteen menus will also help you work towards the Healthy Eating and Oral Health Benchmarks of the Achievement Program.
Menu assessments
You can use FoodChecker to assess your whole canteen menu, including lunch and recess offerings, recipes made on site, and packaged products.
Your menu assessment report will include:
- a classification for every food and drink item you entered (Everyday, Select Carefully, Occasionally, or confectionery and high sugar content soft drinks)
- recommendations for healthier alternatives
- the overall percentage of Everyday, Select Carefully, Occasionally, or confectionery and high sugar content soft drink items on your menu
- recommendations to decrease the amount of Occasionally, or confectionery and high sugar content soft drink options and increase the amount of Everyday items on your menu
- advice on promoting your healthier options
When you make changes to your menu you can reassess it online, or use FoodChecker to plan future menus that meet the policy.
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Before you start:
Start gathering information about the foods and drinks you want to assess.
You will need:
- a recipe for every food and drink item made on site, with exact quantities for each ingredient (eg, grams, kilograms, litres, etc). - the name and nutrition information for all packaged and pre-made items. |
Recipe assessments
You can use FoodChecker to find out if the recipes you prepare on site are classified as Everyday, Select Carefully, Occasionally, or confectionery and high sugar content soft drinks.
Your instant report will include the recipe’s classification, plus recommendations on how to make it healthier.
You can enter your own recipe, or use the ‘common recipes’ feature to select from hundreds of standard recipes, and modify them to match yours. You can also save your favourite recipes to use in future.
Product assessments
You can use FoodChecker to find out if the branded food and drink products supplied in your canteen are classified Everyday, Select Carefully, Occasionally, or confectionery and high sugar content soft drinks.
Select from thousands of items already in our database, or enter the details of a new item and save it to your account.
Your report will include each product’s classification, with feedback and suggestions for a healthier choice (if relevant).