A study of the nutritional composition of primary school children's packed lunches and school meals

Abstract

A survey of the nutritional composition of primary school children's packed lunches and school meals over I week in October 1990 was carried out in an inner‐city school in Nottingham where the majority of children had free school meals and were therefore by definition from low‐income families. Maximum, minimum and mean levels of energy, protein, fat, carbohydrate and dietary fibre were calculated from food composition tables, together with the proportions of the energy contributed by fat, carbohydrate and protein. There were very large differences in the ranges of protein (2.6–24.7 g), fat (10.0–55.3 g) and carbohydrate (33.7–160.9 g) in packed lunches compared to those from school meals (protein 23.3–81.9 g, fat 24.0–65.5g and carbohydrate 37.2–140.3) although the mean percentage of energy from fat was similar in the packed lunches compared to the school meals (43.1 vs. 42.7). The mean energy provided by the school meals was approximately 33% higher than that from packed lunches (2554 kJ vs. 3386 kJ). Whilst accurate food consumption measurements were not performed, observational studies of the children indicated that food was left uneaten, particularly with packed lunches where the crisps and chocolate were often eaten first and the sandwiches remained half‐eaten or untouched.