June 26, 2026
To Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services, Ontario Student Nutrition Program (OSNP) staff:
Jeff Gill, Assistant Deputy Minister
Kimberley McClean, Director (Acting), Child Development and Specialized Services Branch
Erica Perry, Manager, Child Development Unit
Zara Dawood, Senior Program Analyst, Child Development Unit
RE: Recommendation to Review and Update Ontario Student Nutrition Program Nutrition Guidelines
Ontario Dietitians in Public Health (ODPH) is the professional association of Registered Dietitians working in Ontario’s public health system. We are recognized leaders in public health nutrition and represent local public health agencies across the province. We work with OSNPs reviewing and approving food products, interpreting existing guidelines, and providing guidance, resources and training for local and regional programs and school communities (Brightbites.ca).
Our members were key partners in the development of both previous and current Nutrition Guidelines (2016, 2020) and participated in the Program Review in 2023/24. ODPH is pleased to support and collaborate with you to ensure Ontario students have access to nutritious foods at school.
We are writing to recommend a review and update of the Ontario Student Nutrition Program (OSNP) Nutrition Guidelines.
The current guidelines were last updated in 2020, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.1 Since then, the school food environment has changed considerably. Food products and formulations have evolved, nutrition labelling requirements have been updated, school food programming has expanded significantly across Ontario, and programs have adapted to changing realities related to food costs, procurement, and service delivery.2-6 In addition, new federal investments in school food programs present a timely opportunity to strengthen and modernize nutrition guidance to support consistent implementation across the province.7
The intent of the OSNP Nutrition Guidelines remains highly relevant: ensuring children and youth have access to nourishing foods that support learning, health, and well-being. As school food programming continues to evolve, there is an opportunity to enhance the guidelines to better reflect today’s food environment and support consistent, practical implementation across Ontario schools and communities.
An updated guideline framework would provide an opportunity to:
- Strengthen the focus on nutrient-rich foods while recognizing the realities of today’s food environment and the role of some processed foods within healthy eating patterns.
- Reflect current evidence, food literacy principles, and youth engagement practices.
- Enhance guidance related to culturally diverse foods, inclusion, and student-centred food environments.
- Improve clarity around meal and snack definitions and food classification criteria.
- Better align nutrition guidance with current procurement systems, product formulations, and purchasing practices used by school food providers.
- Support more consistent implementation across Ontario schools and communities.
- Provide practical implementation tools and resources that make the guidelines easier to apply for staff, volunteers, and program coordinators, drawing on promising practices from other jurisdictions such as British Columbia’s School Food Toolkit.
The National School Food Program has provided Ontario with substantial investments for school food programming while participation in student nutrition programs continues to grow. Updated guidelines would help align Ontario’s program with the National School Food Policy’s vision, principles and objectives, and maximize the impact of these investments by ensuring nutrition standards remain relevant, practical, equitable, and achievable for programs of varying sizes and capacities.
Importantly, any future review process should include the perspectives of students, families, school food providers, public health professionals, and a broad range of community and system partners, including Student Nutrition Ontario (SNO), Local Planning Partnerships (LPPs), and the Coalition for Healthy School Food (ON chapter), to ensure that updated guidance reflects both evidence and real-world implementation experiences.
ODPH would welcome the opportunity to meet with Ministry representatives to discuss these recommendations and explore potential next steps. Our members bring extensive expertise in public health nutrition, food literacy, healthy school food environments, and program implementation. We would be pleased to support future guideline review efforts. We would also be pleased to share additional evidence, implementation findings, and examples from other jurisdictions to inform future discussions.
Thank you for your consideration and we look forward to further discussion. Please contact us by email executive@odph.ca.
Sincerely,
Kimberly Leadbeater, RD
Co-Chair, School Nutrition Workgroup
Kimberly Leadbeater, RD Karen Bellemore, RD
Co-Chair, School Nutrition Workgroup Chair, Ontario Dietitians in Public Health
Cc.
Sarah Keyes, Ontario Lead, Coalition for Healthy School Food, sarah@sustainontario.ca
Heather Thoma, Provincial Animator, Ontario Chapter Coalition for Healthy School Food, heather@sustainontario.com
Hannah Mawhinney, Manager, Student Nutrition Ontario, manager@studentnutritionontario.ca
References:
- Ministry of Children, Community and Social services. (2020). Student Nutrition Program Nutrition Guidelines 2020. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjQ6orSso6VAxVODjQIHU8_PHYQFnoECCIQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Ffiles.ontario.ca%2Fmccss-2020-student-nutrition-program-guidelines-en-2021-11-29.pdf&usg=AOvVaw3OTxRn1qvGmajL8f5r2z3A&opi=89978449
- Noyes, I., & Lyle, N. (2021). COVID-19 and school food: The impact of the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic on student nutrition programs in Ontario. Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development, 10(2), 197–210. https://doi.org/10.5304/jafscd.2021.102.049
- Ismail MR, Gilliland JA, Matthews JI, Battram DS. School-Level Perspectives of the Ontario Student Nutrition Program. Children (Basel). 2022 Feb 1;9(2):177. doi: 10.3390/children9020177. PMID: 35204898; PMCID: PMC8870685.
- Wilton Consulting Group. (2026). Growing Local: Strengthening School Food Programs with Ontario Food. https://sustainontario.com/2026/04/28/growing-local-strengthening-school-food-programs-with-ontario-food/
- Annette Blais, Mavra Ahmed, Mary L’Abbé, Daniel Sellen, and Vasanti Malik. (2025). Canada-wide survey of school food programs. Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism. 50: 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1139/apnm-2024-0083
- Ruetz, A.T. & Tasala, K. (2025). The State of School Food Programming in Canada 2023/24: Pre-National School Food Program Baseline. A Report Prepared by Ruetz Consulting for the Government of Canada, funded by the Arrell Family Foundation.
- Government of Canada. (2024). Canada–Ontario National School Food Program agreement (2024 to 2027). https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/programs/school-food/agreements/ontario-2024.html
