2.3.4 Healthy and affordable food choices

In 2025, Srinakharinwirot University (SWU) provided healthy and affordable food choices for all on campus. Under the SWU Healthy Canteen initiative, launched with the Thai Health Promotion Foundation (ThaiHealth) on 11 March 2025, all food outlets in the university canteens offer at least one healthy menu, display healthy-menu symbols and publish nutrition information for their dishes. From 1 October 2025, the 30-Baht Meal Programme added a full meal priced at THB 30 in every shop, so that healthy food is also affordable for every student and staff member.

SWU Healthy Canteen: healthy choices in every food outlet

On 11 March 2025, SWU and ThaiHealth launched the SWU Healthy Canteen at the canteen building in front of the Srinakharinwirot University Prasarnmit Demonstration School. The President of SWU opened the event, and the Director of ThaiHealth's Organisational Well-being Support Office explained how the partnership supports the university as a health-promoting university. Under the initiative, the university asked every shop in its canteens to offer at least one healthy menu and to improve the cleanliness and safety of its food service.

Every shop now uses the same set of healthy-menu symbols on its menu board: high-protein dishes, low-fat dishes and vegetable-rich dishes, together with the campaign messages "Less Fat, Less Sugar, Less Salt". Posters in the canteens explain how much sugar and salt people should eat each day, helping diners to make healthy food choices that provide the body with essential nutrition and adequate calories.

Figure 1: Shop menu boards in SWU canteens with healthy-menu symbols, prices and a QR code linking to nutrition information

Figure 2: Guide to the healthy-menu symbols (left) and the Less Fat, Less Sugar, Less Salt campaign (right)

Figure 3: Posters on daily limits for sugar and salt in SWU canteens

The badges and campaign materials are used in the canteens themselves. Shop signs and menu boards show the badges next to each dish, so that diners can spot vegetable-rich, high-protein and low-fat options while they queue, and stand-up posters at canteen entrances remind diners to "Order Less Sugar, Less Oil, Less Salt". The labelling also encourages vendors to adapt their recipes to healthier standards.

Figure 4: Shop signs and menu boards with healthy-menu badges at food vendors in SWU canteens

Figure 5: Health promotion pop-up stands, "Order Less Sugar, Less Oil, Less Salt", at canteen entrances

Source: https://www.facebook.com/prswu/posts/pfbid021K7qEF45xQgQVAcYQxvw1CoQA3GZ8kvbmtXUPZxW6wp68DBjPc9jX8Mex8LHUNp8l

Healthy eating campaigns with students

To keep healthy eating in the spotlight, the SWU Well-being Project works with the Faculty of Social Sciences and student clubs, including the SWU Well-being Club, to run regular healthy canteen campaigns that raise awareness of balanced diets and sustainable food. At the launch of the SWU Healthy Canteen on 11 March 2025, the university invited students and staff to hear about the canteen policy and gave free meal coupons to 50 students and 50 staff to use at the university's food outlets, encouraging them to try the healthy menus.

Figure 6: Students and staff at the SWU Healthy Canteen campaign, a collaboration between the university and student clubs

Source: https://www.facebook.com/prswu/posts/pfbid0ZAxKkc4wQ8Sz7NKL5STTSedmdFeaPaq9XV5WL9o2eeJLH1YumNQ39URyKmGHoZHMl

Nutrition information for more than 600 dishes in four canteens

To help diners choose healthy meals, the SWU Healthy Canteen project, supported by ThaiHealth, publishes the calories, protein, carbohydrate and fat of every dish in the university canteens. The online database covers 29 shops and more than 600 dishes in four canteens: the Green Nutrition Canteen, the Demonstration School Canteen and the Central Canteen on the first and second floors. The values were measured by buying real dishes from each shop, weighing every ingredient and analysing them with the Food4Health database of the Department of Health, NCCDB and USDA SR28. Diners can scan the QR code on each menu board, filter dishes by high protein, low fat or low calories, and even see how the calories change when less cooking oil is used.

Figure 7: The SWU Healthy Canteen website, showing calories and nutrients of dishes, low-fat and low-calorie labels, and options to reduce cooking oil

Source: https://swucanteen.netlify.app/

Affordable meals in every shop: the 30-Baht Meal Programme

Healthy food must also be affordable. From 1 October 2025, every shop in every canteen at the Prasarnmit and Ongkharak campuses offers at least one complete meal for THB 30, such as stir-fried mixed vegetables served with riceberry rice, a nutritious whole-grain Thai rice, rice with stir-fried pumpkin and egg, chicken noodle soup or fried rice with egg. Some shops price their healthy dishes even lower, such as rice with a vegetable omelette for THB 25. Combined with the healthy-menu symbols and nutrition information, the programme makes sure that a healthy, filling meal is within reach of every student and staff member, contributing to SDG 2: Zero Hunger. Students and staff from all economic backgrounds can therefore eat a nutritious meal on campus without financial barriers.

Figure 8: SWU announcement of 30-baht meals in every canteen and every shop from 1 October 2025

Figure 9: More 30-baht meals at the Green Nutrition Canteen: rice with stir-fried mixed vegetables, chicken noodle soup and fried rice with egg

Figure 10: Healthy and affordable dishes in different canteens: rice with stir-fried pumpkin and egg, THB 30, Green Nutrition Canteen (left); stir-fried mixed vegetables with riceberry rice, THB 30, Canteen 1 (centre); rice with vegetable omelette, THB 25, Canteen 1 (right)

Source: https://www.facebook.com/prswu/posts/pfbid02puWkS7NfGKzLJN4qyyaS5xtdtDE98uauwcMi4PWVFyPMZmZKTjNEr8zzTLuEU4gXl