Cargando…

Sustainable and Nutritional Recommendations for the Development of Menus by School Food Services in Spain

Background: Recommendations for the development of school menus can promote healthier, more sustainable food systems. In Spain, these recommendations depend on regional governments (Autonomous Communities—CCAAs) that develop their own guides. The objective of this study was to explore the nutritiona...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Martínez-Milán, María Asunción, Davó-Blanes, María Carmen, Comino, Iris, Caballero, Pablo, Soares, Panmela
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9777547/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36553823
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/foods11244081
_version_ 1784856131790700544
author Martínez-Milán, María Asunción
Davó-Blanes, María Carmen
Comino, Iris
Caballero, Pablo
Soares, Panmela
author_facet Martínez-Milán, María Asunción
Davó-Blanes, María Carmen
Comino, Iris
Caballero, Pablo
Soares, Panmela
author_sort Martínez-Milán, María Asunción
collection PubMed
description Background: Recommendations for the development of school menus can promote healthier, more sustainable food systems. In Spain, these recommendations depend on regional governments (Autonomous Communities—CCAAs) that develop their own guides. The objective of this study was to explore the nutritional and sustainability recommendations for the development of menus by school food services in Spain. Methods: Guides were reviewed that were available on the official web pages of the councils of health and education. Twenty-four variables were studied and organized into three categories: characteristics, nutritional recommendations and sustainability. The number of recommendations included in each guide was counted. The weekly frequency of the suggested food provision for each food group was calculated, as was the average, median, standard deviation, confidence interval and interquartile index. Results: Overall, 13 guides were reviewed from different CCAAs. All of them included at least three of the nutritional recommendations, two suggested restrictions in the provision of foods with high quantities of salt and six suggested restrictions in foods with high levels of trans and saturated fats and sugars. All except one guide recommended the weekly provision of foods by food group: protein-rich foods (n = 8), cereals and root vegetables (n = 6), vegetables (n = 5.2) and fruit (n = 4.3). Of the eight criteria for sustainability studied, nine guides included one or none. Conclusions: Guides for the provision of meals at school in Spain promote the incorporation of healthy foods; however, they rarely restrict foods with high levels of fat, salt and sugar, and the promotion of food sustainability is only just beginning. These guides should be reviewed and updated to include recommendations that promote healthy and sustainable food systems.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-9777547
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2022
publisher MDPI
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-97775472022-12-23 Sustainable and Nutritional Recommendations for the Development of Menus by School Food Services in Spain Martínez-Milán, María Asunción Davó-Blanes, María Carmen Comino, Iris Caballero, Pablo Soares, Panmela Foods Article Background: Recommendations for the development of school menus can promote healthier, more sustainable food systems. In Spain, these recommendations depend on regional governments (Autonomous Communities—CCAAs) that develop their own guides. The objective of this study was to explore the nutritional and sustainability recommendations for the development of menus by school food services in Spain. Methods: Guides were reviewed that were available on the official web pages of the councils of health and education. Twenty-four variables were studied and organized into three categories: characteristics, nutritional recommendations and sustainability. The number of recommendations included in each guide was counted. The weekly frequency of the suggested food provision for each food group was calculated, as was the average, median, standard deviation, confidence interval and interquartile index. Results: Overall, 13 guides were reviewed from different CCAAs. All of them included at least three of the nutritional recommendations, two suggested restrictions in the provision of foods with high quantities of salt and six suggested restrictions in foods with high levels of trans and saturated fats and sugars. All except one guide recommended the weekly provision of foods by food group: protein-rich foods (n = 8), cereals and root vegetables (n = 6), vegetables (n = 5.2) and fruit (n = 4.3). Of the eight criteria for sustainability studied, nine guides included one or none. Conclusions: Guides for the provision of meals at school in Spain promote the incorporation of healthy foods; however, they rarely restrict foods with high levels of fat, salt and sugar, and the promotion of food sustainability is only just beginning. These guides should be reviewed and updated to include recommendations that promote healthy and sustainable food systems. MDPI 2022-12-16 /pmc/articles/PMC9777547/ /pubmed/36553823 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/foods11244081 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Martínez-Milán, María Asunción
Davó-Blanes, María Carmen
Comino, Iris
Caballero, Pablo
Soares, Panmela
Sustainable and Nutritional Recommendations for the Development of Menus by School Food Services in Spain
title Sustainable and Nutritional Recommendations for the Development of Menus by School Food Services in Spain
title_full Sustainable and Nutritional Recommendations for the Development of Menus by School Food Services in Spain
title_fullStr Sustainable and Nutritional Recommendations for the Development of Menus by School Food Services in Spain
title_full_unstemmed Sustainable and Nutritional Recommendations for the Development of Menus by School Food Services in Spain
title_short Sustainable and Nutritional Recommendations for the Development of Menus by School Food Services in Spain
title_sort sustainable and nutritional recommendations for the development of menus by school food services in spain
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9777547/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36553823
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/foods11244081
work_keys_str_mv AT martinezmilanmariaasuncion sustainableandnutritionalrecommendationsforthedevelopmentofmenusbyschoolfoodservicesinspain
AT davoblanesmariacarmen sustainableandnutritionalrecommendationsforthedevelopmentofmenusbyschoolfoodservicesinspain
AT cominoiris sustainableandnutritionalrecommendationsforthedevelopmentofmenusbyschoolfoodservicesinspain
AT caballeropablo sustainableandnutritionalrecommendationsforthedevelopmentofmenusbyschoolfoodservicesinspain
AT soarespanmela sustainableandnutritionalrecommendationsforthedevelopmentofmenusbyschoolfoodservicesinspain