Healthy options: Assistant Director of Health (Health Promotion) Dr Regina Ching (second left) invites food premises to join the EatSmart@restaurant.hk Campaign.

The Department of Health will launch a city-wide campaign next year to encourage restaurants to provide more healthy dishes.

Assistant Director of Health (Health Promotion) Dr Regina Ching today said the EatSmart@restaurant.hk Campaign was developed from the well-received pilot project launched earlier this year in which 300 restaurants participated.

Participating restaurants will provide healthier options with more fruit or vegetables, and less oil, salt and sugar according to the Guidebook for Managers & Chefs compiled by the department.

Positive response

The evaluation study on the one-month pilot project showed more than 98% of customers supported healthy menus while 75% would return again as a result.

About 95% of restaurant workers found more customers opted for healthy dishes while 98% considered it feasible to set healthy menus in restaurants.

"Taking reference from the experience gained in the pilot project we have fine-tuned the details of the campaign to provide better support to restaurants," Dr Ching said.

She invites all food premises to join the campaign to create a healthy cooking and eating trend. So far more than 300 food premises have expressed interest in participating in the campaign.

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