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Insiders say parents are being lied to about the quality of food served at childcare centres, with some spending as little as 33 cents per meal on children.
Families and staff said the standard of food at some for-profit childcare centres was "substandard" and "heartbreaking".
Jenny Shih said the Genius childcare centre at Reservoir in Melbourne deteriorated before her eyes after she enrolled her child in 2023.
Ms Shih was paying $140 a day, or $700 a week per child, at the Genius centre.
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Meals not meeting the national standard
Bonnie Searle and Karen Thorpe from the Queensland Brain Institute lead research into the quality of food and nutrition in Australia's early childhood education and care sector.
Eleven per cent of the centres they audited experienced severe food insecurity. They also found many of the meals provided did not meet the national dietary recommendations for children.
"About 80 per cent [of children] were not getting protein. And for vegetables, it was around the same," Dr Searle said.
"Crackers, cabana, rice cakes, lots of rice, pasta. That is not an adequate meal for any child, whether it's a toddler or a five-year-old. It's completely missing any vegetables. There's no protein in there."
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Dietitians Australia president Fiona Willer said Australian children had a right to a standard of food that supported their growth, development and health.
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