Unwrapping Deakin's food and nutrition research in the 90s

From 1978 – when its first cohort of graduates received diplomas in Dietetics and Foods and Food Services – to the current range of courses offered in its Food and Nutrition Sciences discipline, Deakin University has supplied the health and human services sector in Australia with qualified, dedicated and results-driven professionals.  

How the program started

The Victorian government launched its innovative food and nutrition policy in 1987 to promote the importance of a healthy and nutritious diet. The Victorian Health Promotion Foundation (VicHealth) was established the same year, and one of its first activities was to support the development of the Food and Nutrition Program (FNP). Based originally in the Victorian Health Department, the FNP team moved to Deakin’s Waurn Ponds Campus before ultimately settling into offices at Deakin Burwood.

Led by Mark Lawrence (now Professor of Ecological Nutrition at Deakin’s Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition (IPAN), the program collaborated with community-based health and education professionals to deliver statewide messages at a local level. Supermarkets, catering companies, workplace cafeterias, Meals on Wheels and school tuck shops were all strategically targeted with a variety of programs – all designed to help more informed consumers and providers made healthier choices.

Remember 2 Fruit ‘n’ 5 Veg? That was supported by Deakin!

One of the most visible public campaigns was the 2 Fruit ‘n’ 5 Veg Every Day, which ran from Spring of 1992 and to 1995. It was founded in partnership with the Melbourne Fresh Centre Market Trust and the Department of Food and Agriculture, targeting three main groups:

1. consumers
2. the horticultural industry
3. the food service industry.

Christina Pollard, campaign coordinator, helped promote it through events and numerous interviews for radio and print media. More than 2,200 schools received a booklet recommending activities designed to engage children in healthy eating, and food service outlets were encouraged to participate through the purchase of kits aimed at promoting the 2 Fruit ‘n’ 5 Veg Every Day message.

There were television advertisements, radio interviews, a cookbook, fridge magnets, food demonstrations, celebrities, public events, anthropomorphic carrots, bunting, t-shirts and branded public transport. Subsequent evaluative research found that about half of the Victorian population at the time was aware of the campaign, and a McCann Erikson report commissioned by the Australian Fruit & Vegetable Association noted that the campaign was one of the most successful of its kind in Australia. The message appeared to be cutting through, and phase two would build on the success.

Phase two was launched in 1993 at Deakin’s Stonnington campus by the Victorian Minister for Agriculture, Bill McGrath. This phase introduced point-of-sale displays designed to promote the benefits – for both consumers and growers – of purchasing and selling in-season fruit and vegetables. The goal remained to increase consumption of fruit and vegetables and to raise awareness of the recommended intake.

Throwback to 90s recipes

Getting hungry? The following recipe is taken from the 1991 Fruit’n’Veg Snack’n’Pack Cookbook produced by the FNP. The book contains ‘over 200 healthy lunch and snack ideas’. Deakin Archives cannot claim to have tried them all, but this one, described as a hearty lunchtime meal, looks appetising.

Beef and beer casserole

Ingredients:

2 tsp vegetable oil (optional)

500g lean blade steak, cubed

1 leek, sliced

100 g mushrooms, sliced

4 tomatoes, diced

1 red capsicum, diced

1 cup beer

2 tbsp tomato paste

1 tsp mixed herbs

1 ½ cup peas

¼ cup chopped parsley

Method:

1. Brush base of pan with oil, and heat. Add steak and cook until brown on both sides. Remove and place in an ovenproof dish.
2. Add leek, mushrooms, tomato and capsicum to pan and cook until leek is soft.
3. Add beer, paste and herbs and stir. Bring to boil. Pour into ovenproof dish with browned steak.
4. Bake at 180⁰C for one hour then add peas. Continue cooking for 15 minutes or until steak is tender.
5. Serve sprinkled with parsley.

Bon appetit.

Where is the FNP now?

Dovetailing with other contemporaneous public health programs, FNP narrowed the focus to highlight just how important diet is in the pursuit of health and happiness. Since funding was withdrawn in 1996, Mark, as well as colleague Julie Woods (long-term member of the FNP team, now Honorary Associate Professor at Deakin’s School of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences) have worked as academics at Deakin. Here they have developed units and courses training a new generation of food and nutrition scientists who will continue the public-health advocacy that began with the FNP.

Interested in learning more stories about the impact and history of research at Deakin? Visit our new exhibition, currently displaying at Burwood Library (Waurn Ponds and Waterfront dates to come later this year). Shaping the Future: Deakin’s Legacy of Research is part of the 50th anniversary exhibition series 1974 to Now: Deakin at 50.

This story originally appeared as a Deakin Article blog. 

‘ More than 2,200 schools received a booklet recommending activities designed to engage children in healthy eating.’