An Evaluation of Secondary School Nutrition Policy Compliance Using Vending Machine Data From the COMPASS Study in Ontario and Alberta, Canada

Secondary School Nutrition Policy Compliance in Ontario and Alberta, Canada: A Follow-Up Study Examining Vending Machine Data from the COMPASS Study

“…This research comes at an opportune time, aligning with the Ontario Ministry of Education’s desire to revise P/PM 150 nutrition standards [ 31 ]. Results of a recent Canadian Institute of Health Research-funded planning meeting on school nutrition policy include a need to ensure that a revised P/PM 150 reflects an attempt to incorporate a multi-cultural lens, involving students in the consultation process and harmonizing P/PM 150 with other school standards (e.g., menu planning, student nutrition programs) [ 34 ]. There is an urgent need for a consistent enforcement of policy and a monitoring and evaluation process for P/PM 150 in schools.…”

“…There is an urgent need for a consistent enforcement of policy and a monitoring and evaluation process for P/PM 150 in schools. Comprehensive teacher and administrator training to facilitate successful policy implementation and student capacity building could help support students and provide them with the skills and confidence to make healthy choices [ 34 , 35 ].…”

“…The COMPASS host study is an ongoing prospective cohort study (started in 2012/13) collecting longitudinal behavioural data from students (grades 9–12), and program, policy, and built environment data from the secondary schools those students attend in Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia, and Quebec. A full description of COMPASS and its methods is available in print [ 34 ] or online ( ; accessed on 15 January 2021). Consistent with previous research [ 33 ], the present study uses school-level built environment data collected in Ontario and Alberta schools between Year 4 (2015/16) and Year 7 (2018/2019).…”

“…In an effort to communicate data about the barriers impacting the success of the policy and to strategize ways to evaluate it and provide recommendations for its improvement, Vine and others [ 34 ] convened a priority-setting workshop on the school nutrition environment in Ontario, Canada in 2017. The policy-maker (from the Ontario Ministry of Education), public health practitioners, school representatives, and health researchers engaged in a brainstorming and prioritizing exercise related to the school nutrition environment [ 35 ].…”