Nutritional Quality of School Meals in France: Impact of Guidelines and the Role of Protein Dishes
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MS-Nutrition, 13385 Marseille CEDEX 05, France
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Trophis, 13170 Les Pennes Mirabeau, France
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CIV–Viande, Sciences et Société, 207, rue de Bercy, TSA 41309, 75564 Paris CEDEX 12, France
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UMR NORT (Mixed Research Unit—Nutrition, Obesity and Risk of Thrombosis), INRA 1260, Aix-Marseille University, INSERM, 13005 Marseille, France
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MOISA, INRA, CIHEAM-IAMM, CIRAD, Montpellier SupAgro, Université de Montpellier, 34060 Montpellier CEDEX 2, France
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Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Nutrients 2018, 10(2), 205; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu10020205
Received: 7 December 2017
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Revised: 2 February 2018
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Accepted: 9 February 2018
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Published: 13 February 2018
In France, school meals must comply with 15 frequency criteria (FC) expressed as nutritional requirements (e.g., “starters containing more than 15% fat served no more than four times out of 20”) in a series of 20 consecutive meals. The objective was to assess, for the first time, the nutritional impact of complying with French school food FC. Based on 40 series of meals actually served in primary schools (“observed series”), several scenarios (1600 series per scenario) of compliance or non-compliance with FC were simulated, and nutritional quality was assessed via the mean adequacy ratio (MAR/2000 kcal). In the observed series, only 9.7 FC on average (range 4–14) were fulfilled. In the simulated series: (i) MAR was positively associated with FC compliance level, with the highest MAR obtained with complete compliance; (ii) MAR decreased when meat or fish-based dishes were replaced by dishes without meat or fish; and (iii) removing the protein dish without replacement led to the lowest MAR. This study demonstrates that French school food guidelines ensure good nutritional quality of food services. It also shows that generalizing the service of meals without meat or fish would deteriorate overall nutritional quality, highlighting the need to define the composition of vegetarian dishes and their frequency of service to children.
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MDPI and ACS Style
Vieux, F.; Dubois, C.; Duchêne, C.; Darmon, N. Nutritional Quality of School Meals in France: Impact of Guidelines and the Role of Protein Dishes. Nutrients 2018, 10, 205. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu10020205
AMA Style
Vieux F, Dubois C, Duchêne C, Darmon N. Nutritional Quality of School Meals in France: Impact of Guidelines and the Role of Protein Dishes. Nutrients. 2018; 10(2):205. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu10020205
Chicago/Turabian StyleVieux, Florent, Christophe Dubois, Christelle Duchêne, and Nicole Darmon. 2018. "Nutritional Quality of School Meals in France: Impact of Guidelines and the Role of Protein Dishes" Nutrients 10, no. 2: 205. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu10020205
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