A Review of the Nutritional Quality of School Canteen Foods in South Asia

Abstract

In Schools, canteens play a crucial role in ensuring nutritional well-being of adolescents. Regular consumption of unhealthy food items purchased from the school canteens may add to the existing burden of malnutrition in children, especially adolescents. A narrative review was conducted to comprehensively summarize the nutritional quality of food products served in South Asian school canteens. Three electronic scientific databases were searched for articles and selected articles were analyzed. Literature review indicated the absence of school food policy/guidelines, unhygienic school canteens, high availability and accessibility of unhealthy foods in school canteens and lack of awareness regarding healthy school food environment among parents, teachers, students, and principals. Further, well-designed studies to assess the nutritional quality of foods served in school canteens using appropriate indices are required.