Abstract
The benefits of school feeding have been well documented. As such, school feeding programs have continuously gained popularity in developing countries. However, challenges and potential opportunities persist, calling for a review of school feeding for long-term sustainability. South Africa has an opportunity to improve their National School Nutrition Program (NSNP) by including an energy-dense snack that would increase the recommended dietary allowance (RDA) of school children to meet at least 25% of their energy requirements. The objective of this scoping review was to conduct a review and an appraisal of studies on snack food development for school feeding programs in Africa. Eligible studies had to report snack development for school feeding programs in Africa. We conducted an electronic search in National Research Foundation (NRF) NEXUS, Elton B. Stephens Company (EBSCO), International Food Information Service (IFIS), Nutrition and Food Sciences Center for Agriculture and Bioscience International (CABI.ORG), and Google Scholar. Of the 429 articles identified, nine studies were included in the final review—five from within South Africa and four from elsewhere in Africa. Data extracted included the study design, intervention, outcomes, relevant findings, and limitations. Results were presented in a narrative summary. The review findings showed that energy-rich staple foods and food fortification were commonly used in snack development. The popular snack products developed included porridges and biscuits. While most studies reported nutritional outcomes, few studies reported on sensory acceptability tests and only two studies conducted a cost analysis. This review of previous snack development initiatives for school feeding programs in Africa underscores the importance of establishing the sustainability of any food product developed. The findings of this review have the potential to inform future snack product development for school feeding programs.
Highlights
It has become increasingly important to many heads of state, governments, and organizations around the world to end world hunger and improve food security for all regions in the world [1].School feeding has been identified as a means of addressing the Millennium Development Goals1 and 2, which aim to halve the proportion of people suffering from hunger worldwide and to ensure universal enrolment in primary school education [2,3]
Several government policies have been initiated to address the issue of food insecurity in South Africa, such as the Food Fortification Program, food supplementation, and school feeding programs, including the National School Nutrition Program (NSNP), as well as daycare center schemes [4]
Our search strategy was formulated based on knowledge of the literature, using the following keywords to broaden the retrieval of relevant articles: “energy-dense”, “snack foods”, “cost-effective”, “developing countries”, “healthy snacks”
Summary
School feeding has been identified as a means of addressing the Millennium Development Goals. 1 and 2, which aim to halve the proportion of people suffering from hunger worldwide and to ensure universal enrolment in primary school education [2,3]. Several government policies have been initiated to address the issue of food insecurity in South Africa, such as the Food Fortification Program, food supplementation, and school feeding programs, including the National School Nutrition Program (NSNP), as well as daycare center schemes [4]. In 1994, a national scale primary school feeding program was established by the South African Department of Health and was taken over by the Department of Education in 2004 [3]. Public Health 2020, 17, 4967; doi:10.3390/ijerph17144967 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph
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