Assessing school food policies across the EU28 plus Norway and Switzerland.

Bonsmann, Stefan Storcksdieck genannt; Jan, Wollgast; Caldeira, Sandra

doi:10.1016/j.appet.2014.01.020

Cited by 33 publications

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“…In Europe, all European Union member countries as well as Norway and Switzerland have either voluntary guidelines or mandatory school food policies regarding what may be served in the school setting. The aims of these school food policies are in a majority of cases to improve child nutrition, to teach healthy diet and lifestyle habits, and to reduce or prevent childhood obesity ( 1 ). In Sweden, school meals are served free of charge to all children in compulsory school.…”

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confidence: 99%

The contribution of school meals to energy and nutrient intake of Swedish children in relation to dietary guidelines

Osowski

Lindroos

Barbieri

et al. 2015

Food & Nutrition Research

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BackgroundIn Sweden, school meals are served free of charge and Swedish law states that school meals must be nutritious. Nevertheless, data on children's energy and nutrient intake from school meals are scarce.ObjectiveThe aim was to describe the contribution of school meals to Swedish children's nutrient and energy intake during weekdays and compare this to the reference values based on the Nordic Nutrition Recommendations (NNR), which have been adopted as the official Swedish recommendations.DesignA cross-sectional food consumption survey was performed on 1,840 Swedish children attending Grade 2 (mean age 8.6) and Grade 5 (mean age 11.7). The children's nutrient and energy intake was compared to the reference values based on the NNR.ResultsThe mean intake from school meals of energy, carbohydrates, dietary fiber, polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), and vitamins D and E did not reach the reference values and the intake of saturated fatty acids (SFA) and sodium exceeded the reference values in both age groups (significant differences, all p≤0.001). Additionally, the pupils in Grade 5 did not reach the reference values for folate, potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron, selenium, and zinc (significant differences, all p≤0.001). Standardized for energy, dietary fiber, PUFA, and vitamins D and E did not reach the reference values, whereas the reference values for SFA and sodium were exceeded in both age groups (significant differences, all p≤0.001).ConclusionsThe study pointed to some central nutrients in need of improvement as regards school meals in Sweden, namely the quality of fat, dietary fiber, sodium, vitamin D, and iron. Some of these results may be attributed to the children not reporting eating the recommended number of calories, the children omitting some components of the meal, or underreporting, as a consequence of which the reference values for several nutrients were not met.

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confidence: 99%

The contribution of school meals to energy and nutrient intake of Swedish children in relation to dietary guidelines

Osowski

Lindroos

Barbieri

et al. 2015

Food & Nutrition Research

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“…The school food policy mapping by Storcksdieck genannt Bonsmann et al . () is the first to comprehensively cover all Member States of the EU plus Norway and Switzerland. All 30 countries currently have a school food policy in place and national standards and recommendations, despite their differences, are in line with the guidance provided by the WHO tool for the development of school nutrition programmes (WHO Regional Office for Europe ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To close this knowledge gap, the European Commission's (EC) Joint Research Centre has produced a comprehensive overview of national school food policies across the European Union (EU) plus Norway and Switzerland (Storcksdieck genannt Bonsmann et al . 2014 ). The recently adopted EU Action Plan on Childhood Obesity 2014–2020 (EC 2014 ) highlights the need for such work and confirms the school setting as being important for child health promotion.…”

Section: Tackling Childhood Obesity In Europementioning

confidence: 99%

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Comprehensive mapping of national school food policies across the European Union plus Norway and Switzerland

Bonsmann

2014

Nutrition Bulletin

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Childhood obesity is a major public health challenge in Europe. Schools are seen as an important setting to promote healthy diet and lifestyle in a protected environment and school food-related practices are essential in this regard. To understand what policy frameworks European countries have created to govern these practices, a systematic assessment of national school food policies across the European Union plus Norway and Switzerland (n = 30 countries) was carried out. The survey revealed that all 30 countries currently have a school food policy in place; a total of 34 relevant policies were identified, 18 of which were mandatory and the remaining 16 voluntary. Major policy objectives specified were those to improve child nutrition (97% of policies), to help children learn and adopt healthy diet and lifestyle habits (94%) and to reduce or prevent childhood obesity (88%). Most commonly (>90%), the policies offered food-based standards for menu composition, and portion sizes were guided by age-appropriate energy requirements. Lunch and snacks were the most widely addressed mealtimes for almost 90% of all policies examined. Other important areas covered included food marketing to children; the availability of vending services; training requirements for catering staff; and whether nutrition education is a mandatory part of the national curriculum. Evaluation was mentioned in 59% of the school food policies reviewed. Future analyses should focus on evaluating the implementation of these policies and more importantly, their effectiveness in meeting the objectives defined therein. Comparable and up-to-date information along with data on education, attainment and public health indicators will enable a comprehensive impact assessment of school food policies and help facilitate optimal school food provision for all.

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“…Conversely, these two areas have attracted the interest of supranational institutions as relatively uncontroversial, provided they are directed at the protection of minors. Two recent in-depth reports by the European Commission [57] and WHO-Euro [58] are available to complement the necessarily limited findings presented in this study: the EU report shows that, while mandatory interventions have indeed been under-notified, half of all national 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 school food polices do not set any mandatory standards. Similarly, the WHO report confirms our findings that statutory regulation of food and beverage advertising, even to children, is a rare occurrence in Europe advertising regulations, which do not specifically address the promotion of HFSS food and beverage products to children, and on self-regulatory mechanisms which may or may not include specific specific to nutrition found only in Ireland.…”

Section: Methodological Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Regulatory approaches to obesity prevention: A systematic overview of current laws addressing diet-related risk factors in the European Union and the United States

2015

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Assessing school food policies across the EU28 plus Norway and Switzerland.

Cited by 33 publications

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The contribution of school meals to energy and nutrient intake of Swedish children in relation to dietary guidelines

The contribution of school meals to energy and nutrient intake of Swedish children in relation to dietary guidelines

Comprehensive mapping of national school food policies across the European Union plus Norway and Switzerland

Regulatory approaches to obesity prevention: A systematic overview of current laws addressing diet-related risk factors in the European Union and the United States

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