A walk to the office vending machine is often the easiest and most convenient, but not the healthiest, option.
Wanting to offer recruits and staff healthier options the PSP Health Promotion team at St-Jean Garrison in Quebec decided to look into alternatives to the typical snacks found in vending machines and developed the SCORE program, which was launched in the spring of 2023.
The SCORE program was crafted to assist both military and civilian personnel in swiftly pinpointing the healthiest food options available within their workplace. Whether it’s during meetings, conferences, training sessions or official receptions, the food that is most accessible plays a pivotal role in the daily lives of employees and significantly influences their overall health.
“We had been wanting to improve the choices in the vending machines for a couple years, but it was somewhat complex since we don’t own the machines or provide what’s in the machines,” said Maxime Brouillard, Health Promotion Specialist, PSP Montreal Region/St-Jean Garrison. “Work was done between the Health Promotion team and the [Canadian Forces Leadership and Recruit] School, as they were the ones who were initially interested in being able to provide better choices in the vending machines.”
The Health Promotion team had been talking about making changes for a couple years, but the request from the school proved to be the catalyst for the team to put things into action.
Current vending machines on the base featured the usual snack fare such as chips, chocolate bars and candy, and the plan was to offer healthier alternatives.
The Health Promotion team began working with nutritionists who identified criteria that could be taken into consideration when identifying new options for the vending machines.
As the program evolved and details fell into place the team agreed to call the new program SCORE. For an item to be considered it had to meet a certain score as far as protein, sodium, sugar and fibre.
The team worked with the company who had the vending machine contract through the base’s military store CANEX and which is now solely responsible for filling the machines with snacks that meet the SCORE criteria. Every machine on the base offers the healthy alternatives.
“The company already had a number of suppliers they could work with to find the type of products we needed to meet the program requirements,” said Etienne-David Fortin, Manager, Health Promotion, PSP Montreal Region/St-Jean Garrison. “And if their regular suppliers didn’t have something they worked at finding an alternative, which was great.”
The machines now feature a number of protein bars, energy bars and a variety of trail mix options, but snackers can still find some of the more traditional options, just with a healthier twist. Chips in the machines are the of the baked variety versus the traditional fried kind in order to meet recommended nutritional guidelines.
“Before we fully implemented the changes, the vending machine supplier provided us with some samples that students and recruits could try to see what might prove to be more popular,” said Fortin. “It definitely helped make the transition a lot smoother and the feedback we received was positive and now people enjoy having the healthier alternatives.”
Machines also provide healthier beverage options that feature lower sugar options such as water, sparkling water and sport beverages.
“There was some initial concern from the vending machine suppliers that people wouldn’t buy the healthier snacks,” said Brouillard. “We were pleased to see that machines were getting sold out and people were happy with the healthier options.”
While there was a bit of a price increase in comparison to some of the previously available options, there is a wide price range and it hasn’t proven to be a deterrent.
While Health Promotion team members and staff from CFLRS were excited about the changes…” Perhaps you could insert the acronym (CFLRS) sooner in the article: “Work was done between the Health Promotion team and the [Canadian Forces Leadership and Recruit] School (CFLRS).
The program is still new, but Brouillard said he’s already had inquiries from other bases about the SCORE program and how the PSP Health Promotion team at St-Jean Garrison made it a success.
