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Healthy Menus in Karlovac Elementary School

The successful Podravka project ‘healthy menus’ has now been introduced in the school kitchens of Karlovac elementary school students.

OŠ Grabrik is thus the first school in Karlovac County to have the opportunity to improve the dietary habits of its students in its school kitchen. The little Karlovci and their school also hosted the already recognizable sports event Lino Multi-Sport, whose special guests were Croatian athletes Mateja Kunović, Marijo Možnik, and Miranda Tatari.

The main objectives of the Project are for Podravka to promote proper and balanced nutrition among elementary school students through free nutritional education for children, parents, elementary school teachers, and training for chefs regarding new, nutritionally high-value meals (less sugar, fat, salt, more vitamins and minerals) in school kitchens, for the benefit of their health in the future. The quality of the project has been confirmed by the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Science, Education, and Sports.

– After the successful presentation of the ‘healthy’ school menus project in Koprivnica, Split, and Vukovar, we decided to start the new ‘healthy’ year in the city of Karlovac and OŠ Grabrik. I am particularly pleased that the importance of this project and the concept of improving school menus to ‘healthy’ school menus have been recognized by the principals and collaborators of other Karlovac elementary schools, who showed by their presence that Karlovac County truly cares about the dietary habits of its schoolchildren. – emphasized mr.sc. Davorka Gajari, project manager and director of the Sensory and Nutrition Department at Podravka.

On this occasion, leading Croatian athletes spoke about the importance of creating healthy eating habits at an early age, including Mateja Kunović – the third junior in the world in taekwondo and the best athlete in Karlovac in 2012, gymnast Marijo Možnik – European vice-champion in 2012. Miranda Tatari, captain of the Croatian handball team and RK Podravka Vegeta, told the schoolchildren that “proper nutrition at an early age is extremely important not only for achieving quality sports results but also for creating healthy life habits in general.” The principal of OŠ Grabrik, Željka Škot, who was also the host of the project presentation, spoke about the importance of implementing the School Menu Project. The sporting spirit of well-known Croatian athletes and Karlovac elementary school students was particularly felt in the traditional Lino Multi-Sport, where children gain a winning mentality through sports competitions, learn how to cope with defeat, and through socializing, adopt true sports and human values. Both Podravka projects, the School Menu Project and Lino Multi-Sport, support EU and WHO guidelines on proper and balanced nutrition and physical activity.