Melbourne Museum Scienceworks and Immigration Museum consign soft drinks to history
Sugary drinks are on their way to extinction — like the dinosaurs — at Melbourne Museum, Scienceworks and the Immigration Museum under a ban to tackle childhood obesity.
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Sugary drinks are going the way of the dinosaurs — well, at least at Melbourne Museum.
All Museums Victoria venues are attempting to make unhealthy drinks extinct in an effort to help young visitors evolve to a healthier life.
Under a new Museums Victoria and VicHealth initiative sugary drinks will be phased out of cafes at Melbourne Museum, Scienceworks and the Immigration Museum from next month.
The museum’s catering partner Restaurant Associates has backed the plan to make soft drinks history, which will also see vending machines disappear to be replaced by water fountains.
With more than 255,000 kindergarten, primary and secondary students visiting the museums each year, Museums Victoria chief executive Lynley Crosswell said the sugar ban was a significant step to improving their health and wellbeing.
“This joint initiative with VicHealth allows us to work towards improving child health in a practical way,” she said. “We hope to encourage other organisations to adopt similar strategies that support Victorian children and sets a new standard for venues across Victoria to put the health and wellbeing of kids first.”
VicHealth CEO Dr Sandro Demaio said a quarter of Victorian children struggled to maintain a healthy weight with clear links between guzzling sugary drink, weight gain and poor dental health.
“It’s exciting to see Museums Victoria taking such a leadership position to improve the healthy drinks options available to the quarter of a million children and their families who visit these iconic venues every year,” Dr Demaio said.
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“This is great news for children, parents and teachers, who will now have healthier options when visiting Melbourne’s museums.
“A standard 600ml bottle of soft drink contains up to 16 teaspoons of sugar. These drinks have no place in kids’ venues.”
After last month calling on VicHealth to establish a Childhood Obesity Taskforce to reduce soaring rates of childhood obesity, Health Minister Jenny Mikakos welcomed the partnership.
“This announcement sends a strong message to the community about putting the health of children and young people first,” she said.
“We want to make sure healthy options are more readily available to all Victorians and to support our kids to develop healthy habits early in life.”