Schulverpflegung an allgemeinbildenden Schulen: Eine Analyse im Landkreis St. Wendel, Saarland

Abstract

The analysis of a randomised 25%-sample shows that the target specifications of the DGE are only implemented by a small number of schools in the exemplary selected district of St. Wendel, Germany. As the German Child and Youth Health Survey (KiGGS), also this evaluation shows that the quality of school meals deviates significantly from the recommendations of the DGE. There is a clear need for action.

How Are School Menus Evaluated in Different Countries? A Systematic Review

“…These include a frequency table with comparison to national recommendations, a table of food groups compared to national recommendations, a food group table correlated with a traffic light system, and a quality index of school meals compared to recommendations. The approaches are qualitative and assess the nutritional aspect exclusively, comparing these to nutritional recommendations [7,[22][23][24]26].…”

“…Thus, in the absence of TPF, it is not feasible to accurately assess which nutrients make up a recipe [31]. Added to these difficulties are the scarce involvement of dietitians in menu planning and the various different realities in school environments when dealing with public policies [7,18,22,23,30].…”

“…Table 1 summarizes the studies included in this review concerning the country and the type of instrument or method for menu evaluation. The studies included in the systematic review were conducted in Brazil (n = 5) [2, [13][14][15][16]; Spain (n = 5) [17][18][19][20][21]; Australia (n = 1) [7]; Germany (n = 1) [22]; France (n = 1) [23]; England (n = 1) [24]; Sweden (n = 1) [25] and Slovenia (n = 1) [26], from 2009 to 2018 (Table 1).…”

“…The studies by Myers [7], Dubuisson [23], and Therre et al [22], conducted respectively in Australia, France, and Germany, similarly approach qualitatively data on school menus in terms of variety, and quality of food, making a comparison with nutritional recommendations. They also approached food and dishes' frequency, looking for information to better evaluate the menu's quality.…”

“…The portions were weighed, evaluated, and scored using a list of thirteen nutrients and eight foods (five healthy and three restricted/unhealthy). The studies by Myers [7], Dubuisson [23], and Therre et al [22] emphasize the variety of studies with a qualitative evaluation of school menus, and the difficulty of extending this evaluation due to lack of data, little involvement of the nutrition professionals in planning menus, and different realities in school environments and public policies.…”