1. What do the nutrition ratings of Sell Most, Sell Sometimes, and Do Not Sell mean?
  2. Can I use these nutrition ratings on the Brand Name Food List website to plan my grocery list for my family?
  3. Why can’t I find whole wheat flour or vegetable oil on the Brand Name Food List?
  4. Do you have any tips for searching the product list?
  5. How can I be sure the item on the product list is the same one I’m looking for?
  6. Why is what we typically sell being replaced by “healthier choices”?
  7. I’m a food service manager in a hospital outside of British Columbia. Can I use the Brand Name Food List to help make changes there?
  8. How do we apply the guidelines for public buildings in hospital settings where some people have special dietary needs?
  9. Who can I call for help with the school guidelines or public building policy?
  10. I am a food manufacturer/vendor. I have a food product I would like to offer, but it doesn’t meet the Sell Most or Sell Sometimes nutrition criteria. Who will work with me to help modify my product so that it does fall within the guidelines?
  11. I am on my child’s school’s Parent Advisory Council. We would like to meet the guidelines very quickly. How can we do this? Who can we contact to help us do this?
  12. I am responsible for the hot lunch program at my child’s school. How can I prepare easy, healthy alternatives? I do not have much storage or prep space or time.
  13. My son's teacher told me that I can’t send “Do Not Sell” items with my son's lunch.
  14. Now that I can’t sell cupcakes for fundraising, what can I sell? What are healthier fund raising choices?
  15. If a food meets all aspects of the Guidelines but is high for sodium (salt), would it still fit?
  16. Who are some healthy vendors our school can use?
  17. We would love to offer healthier food, but we really need the revenue we get from the pop and chips. How can we meet the Guidelines and still make the money we need?
  18. We have a fast food restaurant and corner store within 2 blocks of our secondary school. How can our healthy food compete with what they are selling?
  19. I am trying to create a scorecard, but am unable to find a product that is in my vending machine, what can I do?
  20. I have done a search on the Brand Name Food List and found a number of products listed as ‘Generic Product Listing”. What are these listings and what is their purpose?
  21. How does the scoring of food products in single-serving packages differ from the scoring for food in multi-serving packages (i.e. bulk foods)?
  22. How do I know if a prepackaged product is in a single or multiple-serving package/container?
  23. My company makes fresh hot lunches for schools, how can I get my menu items published on the Brand Name Food List?
  24. What is a standardized recipe and why is it required for nutrient analysis and posting to the List?

  • What do the nutrition ratings of Sell Most, Sell Sometimes, and Do Not Sell mean?
    Answer: “Sell Most” is a name given to the category that should, according to BC standards, make up at least 50% of the prepackaged food and beverage choices offered in BC schools (all sales) and public buildings (vending sales). “Sell Sometimes” is the name given to the category that should make up the rest. Nutrition and ingredient criteria for each category are described in detail in the Guidelines for Food and Beverage Sales in BC Schools. “Do Not Sell” is the name given to the category of food and beverages that should not be sold in BC’s schools and public buildings.
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  • Can I use these nutrition ratings on the Brand Name Food List website to plan my grocery list for my family?
    Answer: No, that is not the intended use of this list. The nutrition ratings on the Brand Name Food List were designed to guide food and beverage stocking strategies in public places, they are not meant to guide individual purchasing habits or consumption patterns. Also, the Brand Name Food List focuses on ready-to-eat items. Therefore it doesn’t include many healthy packaged food choices that require preparation or healthy unpackaged choices like fresh vegetables and fruit. Also, the percentages from each category recommended are intended for sales offerings and do not represent the proportion from each category an individual should eat.

    For help planning a healthy grocery list for your family, contact Dietitian Services at HealthLink BC or review some of the useful tools at Dietitians of Canada’s website.

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  • Why can’t I find whole wheat flour on the Brand Name Food List?
    Answer: The Brand Name Food List is meant for ready-to-eat food and beverages that come with nutrition labelling information. It is not meant for individual ingredients that require further preparation (beyond heating or adding water) before being eaten.

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  • Do you have any tips for searching the product list?
    Answer: The “keyword” is a great place to start – it searches the entire list including manufacturer and product names. Enter just one word or a partial word, avoiding pluralizations. Be brief. For example if you want to see all of Dairyland’s products, but you’re unsure if Dairyland is one or two words, just enter “Dairy” in the keyword (or manufacturer name) box. The search engine will find all products with “dairy” anywhere in their name.

    Remember to use the page buttons immediately below the search results to see all of the search results.

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  • How can I be sure the item on the product list is the same one I’m looking for?
    Answer: Check the manufacturer name, product name, flavour, and product size carefully. If you have the package in front of you, you can also compare the Nutrition Facts panel on it to the product in the search results -- click on the product size (it appears in a different colour) and the Nutrition Facts panel will appear. If the Nutrition Facts are the same, it is almost certainly the same product.
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  • Why is what we typically sell being replaced by “healthier choices”?
    Answer: The BC Government is committed to improving our health and reducing health care costs associated with poor eating through a number of measures, one of which is improving the food environment so that it is easier to make healthy choices, and harder to make unhealthy choices. In schools, this will also improve a student’s ability to learn.
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  • I’m a food service manager in a hospital outside of British Columbia. Can I use the Brand Name Food List to help make changes there?
    Answer: The nutrition criteria used in the Brand Name Food List reflect BC’s standards and should not replace any local standards for your area. Contact your local public health centre to find out what the standards are in your province/state/country.
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  • How do we apply the guidelines for public buildings in hospital settings where some people have special dietary needs?
    Answer:The policy for public buildings only applies to food and beverages sold in vending machines. Hospitals should continue to provide clinically required foods as part of their regular patient food service. The Nutrient Criteria in the policy defines the minimum nutrition standard for food and beverages vended in Public Buildings. The standards are set to account for the broad age range of the public. Therefore, the Nutrient Criteria are less restrictive of caffeine and sugar substitutes compared to those for the School Food and Beverage Guidelines.

    We encourage retail food service establishments within health care facilities to provide customers with nutrition information. See Informed Dining in Health Care Facilities for more information.
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  • Who can I call for help with the school guidelines or public building policy?
    Answer: British Columbia residents can call Dietitian Services at HealthLink BC for help with questions about the school guidelines. They can also answer questions about the public building policy that relate to food and nutrition. For all other questions about the pubic building policy (i.e. is my building considered a “public building”?) you can e-mail the customer service contact at Healthier.Choices@gov.bc.ca
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  • I am a food manufacturer/vendor. I have a food product I would like to offer, but it doesn’t meet the Sell Most or Sell Sometimes nutrition criteria. Who will work with me to help modify my product so that it does fall within the guidelines?
    Answer: The best thing to do is contact an expert in food science to work with you and help develop/reformulate your product. To find someone who will work with you and for links to appropriate resources, call Dietitian Services at HealthLink BC.
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  • I am on my child’s school’s Parent Advisory Council. We would like to meet the guidelines very quickly. How can we do this? Who can we contact to help us do this?
    Answer: Your local Community Nutritionist or Public Health Nurse should be able to help you, or there might be a Health Promoting Schools Coordinator at your School District Office. Call Dietitian Services at HealthLink BC for the name of someone to call. You can also ask your vending machine operator and your cafeteria manager (or lunch caterer) for help – most of them are familiar with the Guidelines.
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  • I am responsible for the hot lunch program at my child’s school. How can I prepare easy, healthy alternatives? I do not have much storage or prep space or time.
    Answer: Check out the fact sheets in the Guidelines for tips on easy healthy meals that kids like. You could also have the lunches catered, and ask your caterer to use the Checklist tool in the Guidelines. Call Dietitian Services at HealthLink BC for more ideas.
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  • My son's teacher told me that I can’t send “Do Not Sell” items with my son's lunch.
    Answer: It’s great that your son’s teacher is interested in health. However, the guidelines apply only to foods sold to students in school. They do not apply to foods brought from home.
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  • Now that I can’t sell cupcakes for fundraising, what can I sell? What are healthier fund raising choices?
    Answer: Fundraising events at school are a great way to promote your school's values to your students and to the community. They can also help build school spirit and a sense of teamwork amongst parents. There are many excellent fundraising ideas at BC's website, Healthy Eating at School and in the following document: Healthy Fundraising for Schools. Bake Better Bites provides healthier baking recipes that meet the criteria in the Guidelines.
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  • If a food meets all aspects of the Guidelines but is high for sodium (salt), would it still fit?
    Answer: No. If any single nutrient such as sodium (salt), or ingredient such as sugar, exceeds the criteria in the Sell Sometimes scoring category, it means that item does not fit and should not be sold. .
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  • Who are some healthy vendors our school can use?
    Answer: All vendors have the potential to be healthy. Before signing a contract, ask them for an inventory of the items they vend including the Sell rating and suggested vending price for each item. See the sample vending contract template here. A list of BC Vendors can be found on the Healthy Eating at School website. Finally, your vendor might want to use the "My Scorecard" area of the Brand Name Food List website to show how their vending machines’ contents will meet the Guidelines.
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  • We would love to offer healthier food, but we really need the revenue we get from the pop and chips. How can we meet the Guidelines and still make the money we need?
    Answer: Healthier food can bring in just as much revenue as unhealthy food, however it does take some extra effort to make the switch. We have heard many examples of schools and businesses making the switch and most of them have only positive things to report, including steady or even increased revenue (after a few months of adjusting to the change). It is true that a few schools have not had a positive experience, but we encourage them to try again now that public support is so strong and there are better products available.
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  • We have a fast food restaurant and corner store within 2 blocks of our secondary school. How can our healthy food compete with what they are selling?
    Answer: Keeping students on campus for meals can be a challenge. Strategies to keep them on campus include hosting interesting events during meal times, involving students in choosing and promoting healthy food, and giving them a great place to eat and socialize with their friends. Most schools that switch to healthier choices find that there is an initial increase in the number of students leaving campus at lunch, but it drops back to normal within a couple months. Elementary and middle school students entering your school in the future will be more used to healthy choices and that should help reduce off-campus lunch expeditions.
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  • I am trying to create a scorecard, but am unable to find a product that is in my vending machine, what can I do?
    Answer: You can either:
    1. Use the “Submit an Item” function found under the “Product List” menu to have your product reviewed and listed, or
    2. Use a generic product listing (if applicable) in place of the specific product in your vending machine. To use these listings in your scorecard, search for the keyword “generic” to bring up the generic product listings. Then, select the listing that best matches the product you would like to add to your scorecard.

        3. Examples of products with generic listings include:

        • Fresh fruit and vegetables
        • Candy
        • Chewing gum (sugar sweetened)
        • Chocolate bars and candy bars
        • Energy drinks (sugar sweetened with caffeine levels greater than 15 mg)
        • Regular pop or soft drinks (not including diet versions)

        If you have any questions, please contact Dietitian Services at HealthLink BC at 8-1-1 or email brandnamefoodlist@gov.bc.ca.

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  • I have done a search on the Brand Name Food List and found a number of products listed as ‘Generic Product Listing”. What are these listings and what is their purpose?
    Answer: A number of generic product listings have been created to support audits of vending machines, and other uses of the scorecard feature within the Brand Name Food List. These generic listings can be used to populate scorecards when the specific products are not currently listed in the Brand Name Food List. The scorecard can then be used to audit the product mix and determine if at least 50% of the products score as Sell Most, up to 50% scores as Sell Sometimes, and no products score as Do Not Sell—as is required to meet the Guidelines.
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  • How does the scoring of food products in single-serving packages differ from the scoring for food in multi-serving packages (i.e. bulk foods)?
    Answer: The portion size sold is an important scoring criterion in the Guidelines. For food products in single-serving packages, the package size is used as the portion size. For food products in multiple-serving packages (e.g. 650g tub of yogurt) the serving size shown in the Nutrition Facts table is considered to be the portion size. When the package size is different from the portion size, this information is included in the product listing. For example, a hot dog bun listing might read “Hot Dog Bun 12 pack (per 41 g bun)”.
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  • How do I know if a prepackaged product is in a single or multiple-serving package/container?
    Answer: If the amount of food packaged in the container could reasonably be eaten by one person at a single sitting it would be considered to be a single-serving container. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency provides a more detailed description of what counts as a single serve container in their description of serving size requirements for the Nutrition Facts table.
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  • My company makes fresh hot lunches for schools, how can I get my menu items published on the Brand Name Food List?
    Answer: In order for freshly made food or beverages to be eligible for posting to the Brand Name Food List the following conditions must be met:
    1. The food service operator must use standardized recipes.
    2. A nutrient analysis must completed by either a Registered Dietitian or a company specializing in nutrient analysis.
    3. Product information must be provided in a format that meets Canadian food labeling requirements.

    If these conditions have been met the food service operator can send a copy of the food label, or equivalent information, to brandnamefoodlist@gov.bc.ca. An administrator will review the submission and then post it to the list.

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  • What is a standardized recipe and why is it required for nutrient analysis and posting to the List?
    Answer: A standardized recipe is detailed, has been tested many times and has been shown to produce consistent results. Standardized recipes are required for nutrient analysis because any variation in the recipe will change the results of a nutrient analysis. Standardized recipes are required for any food product posted to the Brand Name Food List because the posting should accurately reflect the product being sold in schools and public buildings, and this is only possible if a consistent product is produced.

    A standardized recipe includes 10 key components:

    1. The recipe name
    2. The ingredients, described in detail
    3. Measurements of all ingredients, preferably in Metric units
    4. Detailed preparation instructions
    5. Cooking temperature and time, if applicable
    6. The recipe yield, the amount of product produced by the recipe
    7. The serving size and number of servings produced by the recipe
    8. A description of the required equipment and utensils
    9. Plating or packaging instructions
    10. Recipe testing to ensure consistent results
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