Nutritional characteristics of school lunch menus in Biscay (Basque Country, Spain) in 2012/2013

Abstract

One of the areas of intervention of the Spanish strategy for nutrition, physical activity and prevention of obesity (NAOS) is school nutrition. To evaluate, taking as reference the minimum set of indicators and recommendations of NAOS Strategy, a sample of school lunch menus distributed in several school dining rooms of Biscay. A descriptive cross sectional study was conducted, based on the theoretical information of the basal menus distributed by seven catering enterprises to 324 schools (80,969 pupils). Weekly frequency of several types of food groups was determined and evaluated; reference documents were "Evaluation and Monitoring of NAOS Strategy: set of indicators" and recommendations of the "Consensus document of feeding in school". The 100 per cent of the school dining rooms meets minimums concerning legumes, fish and pre-cooked meals and with the recommendations of meat and meat products. However, although being close to guidelines, none meets the minimum of fruit, vegetables or of additional nutritional information. Differences among NAOS Strategy recommendations and requirements of the Department of Education have been found, and also difficulties in the quantification and classification of several foodstuffs. It is recommended to increase the content of fruits, vegetables, eggs and oily fish in school menus as well as offering more detailed description of menus to families.