A halve salt reduction intervention doesn’t affect the acceptance of school lunch

Abstract

Abstract Background Considering the high salt consumption by children and their impact on future health, is utmost importance the salt reduction on school meals. Though, it is essential to evaluate the acceptance of less salty meals to guarantee that nutritional requirements are not compromised. Methods This case study was performed at a Portuguese primary school, in city of Porto, including all children aged between 3 and 10 years. Added salt per meal was determined for dishes and soups, during 5 consecutive days in 1st and 2nd phases, by weighing salt added during meals preparation and considering the average portion served to children. An intervention for salt reduction was performed by halve the added salt through cooks training. Meals acceptance was evaluated by plate waste determination, using the aggregated weighing method, in order to compare differences in acceptance of school lunch before and after salt reduction. Results A total of 475 meals was evaluated. Before intervention, it was observed a mean value for added salt of 0.786g (±0.073g) for soup and 1.156g (±0.411g) for dish, totalized 1.942g (±0.393g) of salt added per meal, value higher than recommended for lunch (about 1.5g). During intervention, it was experienced a reduction of added salt between 45.7% and 52.8% for soup and between 41.3% and 50.6% for dish. The salt mean value added per meal was 1.010g (±0.170g), allowed the achievement of recommendations. There were no differences neither in the dish plate waste (p = 0.094) nor in the soup waste (p = 0.838) between the two phases. Conclusions This study showed that a 50% reduction of added salt doesn't affect the acceptance of school lunch by children aged between 3 and 10 years old. The success of this intervention could be important for developing school food policies in order to offer balanced meals either with an adequate salt content to achieve World Health Organization goals for salt reduction and consequently enhance public health. Key messages It has been possible to halve added salt on school lunch without affect children’s consumption. School policies aiming to promote healthy eating habits by reducing meals salt availability could be effective.