School menus in Santa Catarina: Evaluation with respect to the National School Food Program regulations

• Autor(a) principal: Marreira VIDAL, Glenda
• Data de Publicação: 2023
• Outros Autores: Boro VEIROS, Marcela, Araújo de SOUSA, Anete
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Revista de Nutrição
• Texto Completo: https://periodicos.puc-campinas.edu.br/nutricao/article/view/8226
• topic: Legislation, food; Menu planning; Organic foods; School food; Legislação sobre alimentos; Planejamento de cardápio; Alimentos orgânicos; Alimentação escolar

ObjectiveTo assess compliance of school menu planning with the National School Food Program’s regulations. MethodsThis cross-sectional study analyzed 133 menus for 542 schools in 49 municipalities of the state of Santa Catarina. The menus were assessed according to the National School Food Program’s regulations, the “Dietary Guidelines for the Brazilian Population” and the “Qualitative Evaluation of Menu Components for Schools”. The data were analyzed by descriptive statistics. ResultsNearly all (98.5%) municipalities met the requirement of technical responsibility for menu development and 81.0% acquired foods from family farms. The menus contained fruits (87.2%) and non-starchy vegetables (94.0%), but the frequencies of fruits and non-starchy vegetables were smaller than two to three times a week. The most common high-sodium and high-fat foods were commercially processed meats (53.0%), but their frequency was smaller than once a week. Likewise, the frequencies of beverages (natural fruit juice, coffee, andtea) were smaller than once a week. Most menus (85.1%) repeated foods during the week, and only 3.0% of the menus listed organic foods. ConclusionSome school menus from Santa Catarina need to be revised with respect to the frequency of fruits and non-starchy vegetables, high-sugar foods, high-sodium foods, and high-fat foods, and need to increase food diversity and variety.