Authors : Anushka Kolpe
Ritika Sharma
Laxmi Gupta
Introduction: Because of the college curriculum, most students choose unhealthy meals, which contributes to their illness. Many college canteens don’t offer a variety of healthful food options, which can cause numerous illnesses in the near future. It’s critical to recognize the value of the canteen’s healthy food options.
Objective : To understand the underlying phenomena of ‘The Impact of food on health provided in the canteen to the college student’.
Literature Review :
Kjøllesdal states that the shift from consumption of mostly home-made food to more food prepared by others outside the home gives rise to new challenges, and also new possibilities, in promoting healthy eating habits in a population. Nutrition policies need to include means to ensure the availability of healthy options when eating out. The dimension and nature of the influence of the environment and policies on eating habits is a relatively new science with few established associations(18) . Little research has been carried out with regard to socio-economic differences in the use of eating places and how different policies targeting those eating out possibly could reduce, or augment, social inequalities in health.
Subratty states that ensuring that children are healthy and able to learn is an essential component of an effective education system. This is especially relevant to efforts to achieve education for all, even in the most deprived areas. Good health improves enrolment, reduces absenteeism and academic achievements. School canteens should therefore be healthy points of sale which would benefit children by: offering nutritious and clean foods at competitive prices; providing a variety of foods; offering a clean environment for eating.
Data Collection :
A questionnaire was prepared by the students of the university specifically on the influence of the food served in the college canteen which was approved by the Professor. This questionnaire consisted of 5 questions each asking if someone had become ill after consuming food from the canteen.The questionnaire was distributed to100 college students through google forms. The forms were characterised into the range of 1 to 5 where 1 was encoded where people Strongly Disagree with the statements and 5 as encoded where people strongly Agree.Following are the questions asked:
Q1. I get fever after eating food
Q2. I get allergies after eating food
Q3. I feel dizziness after eating the food
Q4. I vomit after eating the food
Q5. I get food poisoning after eating the food
The level of impact was divided into three categories:
- At 95% of confidence level if calculated Z(t-stat) is more than 1.96 is accepted to be Positive
- If calculated Z(t-stat) is between 1.96 and -1.96 is accepted to be Neutral
- If calculated Z(t-stat) is less than than -1.96 is accepted to be Negative.
Data Analysis :
For Data analysis, we have calculated the Mean, Standard Deviation, Standard Error and Z(tstat). For the questions 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5.
|
Sr.No |
Q1. |
Q2. |
Q3. |
Q4. |
Q5. |
|
Mean |
1.90 |
1.85 |
2.27 |
2.13 |
2.23 |
|
Standard Deviation |
1.03 |
1.05 |
1.15 |
1.28 |
1.40 |
|
Standard Error |
0.82 |
0.83 |
0.92 |
1.01 |
1.11 |
|
Z(T-stat) |
-1.77 |
-1.75 |
-1.00 |
-0.83 |
-0.47 |
Result : Therefore the ‘Z’ value of every question has ‘Neutral’ results.
Conclusions :
Conclusion 1 : People are ‘neutral’ about getting fever after eating the canteen food
Conclusion 2 :People are ‘neutral’ about getting allergies after eating the canteen food
Conclusion 3 :People are ‘neutral’ about feeling dizziness after eating the canteen food
Conclusion 4 :People are ‘neutral’ about vomiting after eating the canteen food
Conclusion 5 :People are ‘neutral’ about getting food poisoning after eating the canteen food
References :
Kjøllesdal, ET All (2011). Frequent use of staff canteens is associated with unhealthy dietary habits and obesity in a Norwegian adult population. Public Health Nutrition, 14(1), 133-41. doi:https://doi.org/10.1017/S1368980010001473
Subratty Et All (2003). A need for healthy canteens in secondary schools in mauritius. Nutrition and Food Science, 33(5), 208-212. doi:https://doi.org/10.1108/00346650310499721