On-site food provision in early childhood education services in Victoria, Australia

Early childhood is a critical stage for growth and development. In Australia, approximately 1.3 million children attend approved early childhood education (ECE), with 50% enrolled in centre-based services for an average of 30-hours, 3-days/week.⁽¹⁾ It is recommended that 50–60% of a child's dietary intake be met while attending centre-based services⁽²⁾; therefore, these services have the potential for wide-reaching impact on the development of healthy dietary behaviours. There is no single data set available in Australia regarding food provision type (offered on-site v. brought from home) for Australian centre-based services. This study aimed to identify Victorian services offering on-site food provision and associations with service characteristics (location, management type, level of social disadvantage and the child enrolment capacity). Data were extracted from the Australian Child Care Finder⁽³⁾ and Australian Children Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA)⁽⁴⁾ websites for all Victorian centre-based services. Logistic regression was conducted to assess whether services offering on-site meal provision differed by geographic location (metro v. inner/outer regional), service management type (for-profit v. not-for-profit), Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas (SEIFA) score (categorized as low, medium and high), and child enrolment capacity (number of children). Data extraction identified 1802 Victorian centre-based services, of which 80.7% were metropolitan centres (n = 1440) and 66.0% were private for-profit type (n = 1189). Nearly three-quarters of services were in areas of low (n = 500, 28.6%) or medium (n = 756, 43.3%) social disadvantage. The mean child enrolment capacity for Victorian centre-based services was 90 children (n = 90.1 SD = 40.4). Of these services, nearly two-thirds (n = 1068, 59.3%) of centre-based services in Victoria offered on-site food provision, with the majority in metropolitan location (n = 877, 83.1%), private for-profit type (n = 771, 72.2%) and in the areas of low (n = 295, 28.6%) and medium (n = 447, 43.4%) social disadvantage. The mean child enrolment capacity for services offering on-site food provision was 91 children (n = 91.4, SD = 40.4). Centres with metropolitan location (OR = 1.33, p < 0.05) or for-profit service type (OR = 1.92, p < 0.001) were more likely to offer on-site food provision. No associations were found between level of social disadvantage (OR = 0.99, p > 0.05) or child enrolment capacity (OR = 1.00, p > 0.05). Findings suggest that the majority of Victorian ECE services offer on-site food provision, located in metropolitan locations with private, for-profit, management. The study findings provide valuable insights for the design of future ECE dietary interventions.