healthier choice

SELECT CAREFULLY – the AMBER category
Selecting food and drink carefully means:
• reducing the number of AMBER foods supplied and selecting healthier choices from this
category
• offering some of these foods only on certain days of the week
• avoiding large serving sizes
• serving AMBER foods with extra vegetables and fruits
• planning ways to reduce the proportion of AMBER choices provided compared with
GREEN choices.
AMBER foods are mainly those that have had some fat, sugar or salt added to them and
water removed during processing.
Don’t let these foods and drinks dominate
Many foods that are found in the AMBER segment of the spectrum can be convenient
to offer. However they should not dominate the menu at the expense of healthier GREEN
choices. A menu that consists mostly of AMBER foods will provide the student with food
choices containing too many kilojoules at the expense of the fresh choices that children
and students need for health and vitality.
Avoid large serving sizes
There is a general trend towards serving or packaging foods in larger serving sizes. For
example, some meat pies are 25% bigger today than they were several years ago.
Eating foods in larger serve sizes makes it easier to consume excess kilo-joules. Select
moderate serve sizes instead. If you are packaging and promoting foods within the
canteen, consider the size of the serve.
Select healthier choices within the AMBER category
There are healthier product choices within the AMBER segment of the spectrum that
contain more vegetables and fruit and reduced levels of saturated fat, salt or sugar
when compared to the regular products.

Select carefully

Food Type and examples

Full fat dairy foods Milk (plain 600ml and flavoured 375ml, not coffee). Yoghurt,

custard and cheese. Full fat dairy foods are higher in

saturated fat and full fat flavoured milks in large serve sizes

can contribute excess energy (kilojoules).

Savory commercial 

products

There are many savoury commercial food products in the

marketplace. Check labels against the attached nutrient

criteria to ensure products fit into AMBER and not into the

RED category. Examples include savoury pastries, spring

rolls and dim sims, pasta products, pizza, oven baked potato

products, sausages, frankfurters, meat patties, meat balls,

chicken drumsticks, pork spare ribs, fried rice and noodles,

ready to eat curries, stroganoff and stew type products.

Processed meats 

Use in small amounts only, as larger serve sizes can provide

too much saturated fat and/or sodium. Examples include

fritz, ham, salami, bacon, chicken roll, corned beef and

pastrami.

Margarine, mayonnaise and oil

Choose polyunsaturated or mono-unsaturated (and reduced

salt) varieties and use sparingly. Make sure you can see the

bread through the spread!

Spreads 

Use sparingly. Choose reduced salt varieties where available.

Examples include peanut butter and other nut spreads, fish,

chicken and meat paste, yeast spreads.

Sauces and gravy 

Use sparingly. Choose reduced salt varieties where available.

Examples include tomato sauce, sweet chilli sauce and

gravy. Some sauces (eg satay) also contain nut products.

Snack food bars 

Check the label against the attached nutrient criteria.

Examples include breakfast bars, cereal bars, and fruit bars.

Savoury snack foods and biscuits

Check the label against the attached nutrient criteria.

Examples most likely to fit here include oven baked snack

biscuits, some popcorn, and some dry biscuits.

Cakes, muffins and sweet biscuits

Check the label against the attached nutrient criteria. Some

un-iced cakes, muffins and sweet biscuits that are a small

to medium serve size or have been modified (e.g. reduced

levels of fat and/or sugar and include fibre) may fit into the

AMBER category.

Ice creams, milk based ice confections and dairy desserts

Check the label against the attached nutrient criteria. Ice

creams, milk based ice confections and dairy desserts that

are not coated in chocolate, premium or in a large serve size

are likely to fall into the AMBER category.

Ice blocks, fruit based ice confections, slushees

Check the label against the attached nutrient criteria. Choose

those based on 99% fruit juice and serve size 250ml or less.

Drinks 

Fruit juice – choose those that are 99% juice 250ml or less.

Breakfast cereals 

Some breakfast cereals with added sugars and/or saturated

fat fit into AMBER. Avoid those with high levels of added

sugar.