Next Article in Journal
Country and Gender-Specific Achievement of Healthy Nutrition and Physical Activity Guidelines: Latent Class Analysis of 6266 University Students in Egypt, Libya, and Palestine
Next Article in Special Issue
Changes in Dietary Patterns from Childhood to Adolescence and Associated Body Adiposity Status
Previous Article in Journal
Influence of Genetic Variations in Selenoprotein Genes on the Pattern of Gene Expression after Supplementation with Brazil Nuts
Previous Article in Special Issue
A Socio-Ecological Examination of Weight-Related Characteristics of the Home Environment and Lifestyles of Households with Young Children
 
Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
Journals
Nutrients
Volume 9
Issue 7
10.3390/nu9070736
nutrients-logo
Submit to this Journal Review for this Journal Edit a Special Issue
► Article Menu

Article Menu

Printed Edition

A printed edition of this Special Issue is available at MDPI Books....
share announcement question_answer thumb_up
...
textsms
...
Review

Preschool and School Meal Policies: An Overview of What We Know about Regulation, Implementation, and Impact on Diet in the UK, Sweden, and Australia

by
Patricia Jane Lucas
1,*,
Emma Patterson
2,3,
Gary Sacks
4,
Natassja Billich
4 and
Charlotte Elizabeth Louise Evans
5
1
School for Policy Studies, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1TZ, UK
2
Department of Public Health Sciences, Karolinska Institutet, SE-171 77 Stockholm, Sweden
3
Centre for Epidemiology and Community Medicine, Stockholm County Council, SE-113 65 Stockholm, Sweden
4
Global Obesity Centre, School of Health and Social Development, Deakin University, Geelong VIC 3220, Australia
5
Nutritional Epidemiology Group, School of Food Science and Nutrition, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Nutrients 2017, 9(7), 736; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu9070736
Received: 22 April 2017 / Revised: 29 June 2017 / Accepted: 3 July 2017 / Published: 11 July 2017
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Dietary Intake and Behavior in Children)
View Full-Text Download PDF
Browse Figures

Abstract

School meals make significant contributions to healthy dietary behaviour, at a time when eating habits and food preferences are being formed. We provide an overview of the approaches to the provision, regulation, and improvement of preschool and primary school meals in the UK, Sweden, and Australia, three countries which vary in their degree of centralisation and regulation of school meals. Sweden has a centralised approach; all children receive free meals, and a pedagogical approach to meals is encouraged. Legislation demands that meals are nutritious. The UK system is varied and decentralised. Meals in most primary schools are regulated by food-based standards, but preschool-specific meal standards only exist in Scotland. The UK uses food groups (starchy foods, fruit and vegetables, proteins and dairy) in a healthy plate approach. Australian States and Territories all employ guidelines for school canteen food, predominantly using a “traffic light” approach outlining recommended and discouraged foods; however, most children bring food from home and are not covered by this guidance. The preschool standards state that food provided should be nutritious. We find that action is often lacking in the preschool years, and suggest that consistent policies, strong incentives for compliance, systematic monitoring, and an acknowledgement of the broader school eating environment (including home provided food) would be beneficial. View Full-Text
Keywords: school; preshool; children; school meals; nutrition intake; policy school; preshool; children; school meals; nutrition intake; policy
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited

Supplementary Material

SciFeed

Share and Cite

MDPI and ACS Style

Lucas, P.J.; Patterson, E.; Sacks, G.; Billich, N.; Evans, C.E.L. Preschool and School Meal Policies: An Overview of What We Know about Regulation, Implementation, and Impact on Diet in the UK, Sweden, and Australia. Nutrients 2017, 9, 736. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu9070736

AMA Style

Lucas PJ, Patterson E, Sacks G, Billich N, Evans CEL. Preschool and School Meal Policies: An Overview of What We Know about Regulation, Implementation, and Impact on Diet in the UK, Sweden, and Australia. Nutrients. 2017; 9(7):736. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu9070736

Chicago/Turabian Style

Lucas, Patricia J., Emma Patterson, Gary Sacks, Natassja Billich, and Charlotte E.L. Evans. 2017. "Preschool and School Meal Policies: An Overview of What We Know about Regulation, Implementation, and Impact on Diet in the UK, Sweden, and Australia" Nutrients 9, no. 7: 736. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu9070736

Find Other Styles
Note that from the first issue of 2016, MDPI journals use article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.

Article Metrics

Article Access Map by Country/Region

1
Back to TopTop