Healthy nutrition in schools is one of those topics that always causes heated discussions among parents, teachers and officials. On the one hand, the standards implemented by the state seem to be a significant breakthrough in caring for the health of the younger generation. On the other hand, there is a feeling that there is a gap between official declarations and reality. Do children really get quality and balanced nutrition in schools, or is it just another good word on paper? Perhaps the school menu remains outdated and does not meet modern requirements for healthy nutrition. It’s time to dot all the dots and find out how effective these innovations really are.
Recently, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine decided to expand the list of destinations for which donor funds will be attracted. This will allow not only to improve the quality of food, but also to update and improve food blocks. Financing of such changes will be carried out through donations from individuals and legal entities, humanitarian aid, grants and through the United24 platform. According to officials, this resolution should provide Ukrainian schoolchildren with healthy and tasty lunches.
To what extent does this opinion correspond to reality?
As all experts agree, healthy nutrition is a harmonious consumption of proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins, macro- and microelements, fiber and biologically active substances. According to the new nutrition standards for schoolchildren, actively implemented by the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, an increase in the amount of protein products, vegetables, and fruits in the diet and, at the same time, a decrease in the amount of sugar, salt, and fats are provided.
The goal of such reforms is the formation of healthy habits in children of different ages. These measures will be able to help cope with childhood obesity, reduce diseases of the cardiovascular system and other chronic diseases.
At first glance, the reforms are quite progressive and should be welcomed by society. But, due to the emergence of certain complications, such as the lack of adequate funding and low training of cooks, the society accepted the reform with a stormy reaction. The purchase of low-quality products by schools, the lack of conditions for preparing the dishes specified in the menu, and sometimes simply the inability to cook them led to the fact that children began to refuse to eat school lunches en masse. The result is that children remain hungry during the school day. So what kind of healthy diet can we talk about here, when children can be brought to gastritis at such rates?
What is wrong with the new diet
Before the introduction of new standards, educational institutions of Ukraine were governed by the 1956 food standards. Thanks to the new initiative of Olena Zelenska, the social project “New School Meals” under the authorship of culinary expert Yevhen Klopotenko was involved in the development of the menu. This project promotes a menu that takes into account the calorie content and nutritional value of dishes. Together with a team of nutritionists, Mr. Klopotenko created a new book of recipes for schools, which contains 60 recipes for dishes from familiar products, but in a new way. For example, instead of the usual puree with a cutlet, the culinary expert suggests preparing “Shepherd’s pie”, where minced meat is baked on a pillow of potatoes. It is recommended not to boil beets, but to bake them, to cook soups without frying, and to add sauces instead of oil to salads.
“The recipes were approved by the DPSS and the Ministry of Health, plus they were recommended at the national level. So the schools were given a choice: to create a menu to the standards themselves or to make it based on the recipes we developed. I want children to want to eat in school canteens and to learn from childhood that food should be varied and tasty“, Yevhen Klopotenko explains his position.
However, practice has shown how much Ukrainian schoolchildren have a desire to eat. According to most parents on social networks, their children come home hungry or have to run to the kiosks for crackers and rolls. The reason is simple – children are simply not used to such food. Some even expressed that it would be better to return the usual buns with sausage, because borscht with prunes is not prepared at home, so children are not used to eating such dishes.
Olena, mother of a fifth-grader, Facebook user:
“I believe that I have the right to decide what my child will eat. Children are picky now. My food is spoiled, but I wouldn’t eat what a famous chef advises for anything… The food has been tested for years and is tasty and healthy for me”
“Children eat selectively. Tea or compote. And bread. Two pieces of bread instead of a full meal… A strange full meal. Other children simply do not eat. Food is thrown away”, – child safety expert Olena Lizvinska comments on the situation.
Yuliya Zvarych, mother of a second-grader, Facebook user:
“If earlier there were buns and cookies twice a week, now they have completely canceled them. There is no sugar in the drinks, and the drinks are questionable. The casseroles, which were sweet and served with a sour cream sauce, are now fresh without anything.”
“The portions were reduced, but the price was raised from UAH 37 to UAH 45, because vegetables were added.” – Victoria Sokhatska from Odesa pointed out another unpleasant nuance.
In Ukraine, meals in primary school are partially financed by the state or local government, and then paid by parents.
At the same time, there are those who support such innovations, as they believe that they contribute to the healthy development of children. This especially applies to those parents who themselves follow the principles of healthy eating and strive to instill these habits in their children.
Tatyana, a nurse from Kharkiv, mother of two schoolchildren:
“I liked the updated menu, because there are a lot of new healthy dishes balanced by the content of vitamins and trace elements necessary for the development of a healthy child’s body.”
Natalia Maryanova, Facebook user:
“I am an endocrinologist and I come across childhood obesity more and more often. Therefore, thank you for your work!!!”.
Expert opinion
Experts in the field of nutrition and health care note that such reforms are an important step, but to achieve real results, a comprehensive approach is needed. In particular, it is impossible to achieve success without increasing the financing of schools, ensuring proper training of cooks and conducting educational discussions about the importance of healthy nutrition among children and parents.
“The menu will not solve the problem in a country where the cooks are not properly educated, there is no equipment, and the suppliers are confused,” comments Taras Pastushenko, a fourth-level Ukrainian chef with experience working in US food establishments.
He seriously criticized the technology of preparation and use of some products. So, according to him, tomato paste without heat treatment is harmful for children because it contains a lot of sugar.
“Children growing up now do not eat the same food that schoolchildren ate 20-30 years ago. On the one hand, they are more demanding, and on the other hand, they are used to unhealthy dishes.
The time has come for change, because we are losing children,” comments another cook. the winner of the “Master Chef” show Yevhen Hrybenyk.
“In general, people like salty, sweet, peppery or spicy. That’s why when we switch children to normal food, it seems fresh and tasteless to them. And with the help of spices, this can be corrected a little.
Properly selected and natural spices improve appetite and can help digest food. I support their presence in the diet, if we are talking about natural components in reasonable quantities”, – advises nutritionist Olga Polyukhovich.
How schoolchildren in the EU and the USA eat
In schools in Great Britain, the menu is varied from the usual chicken nuggets and potatoes to vegetarian dishes such as peas and cauliflower with cheese. Children are allowed cakes with custard. The state finances measures to ensure the quality of school meals and partially subsidizes school lunches. Children from low-income families have free lunches.
In French schools, lunches are served according to the principle of an appetizer, a main course of cheese and a dessert. There is a fish day and a meat-free day. Meals are delivered in lunch boxes and heated on the spot. Children also bring their lunch boxes with a healthy snack. The price for lunch is formed depending on the combined annual income of the family and can be partly paid from the local budget.
In Germany, they follow a balanced and varied diet. The menu is not repeated more often than once a week. Children are served seasonal vegetables, meat (twice a week) and sea fish (once a week). The cost of lunches depends on the number of children eating in the school canteen – the more children, the lower the cost. Lunch is partly paid for by parents, and partly funds are allocated from the state budget. Children also bring lunch boxes from home with sandwiches, fruits and vegetables.
In schools in Latvia, a complex lunch is served – vegetables, potatoes, buckwheat or rice, meat or fish. The cost of lunch in some schools for grades 1-4 is partially financed both from the municipal budget and from the state, and for students of grades 5-12 lunches are free at the expense of self-government.
US schools are trying to introduce healthy food. So, French fries, hot dog and milk drink were replaced with grilled chicken, grated cheddar cheese, lettuce, boiled egg, cucumber, carrots, tomatoes, homemade bread, nectar and fruit. The menu, which is updated daily, can be viewed by parents on the website or in the application on the phone. Breakfast and lunch are free in almost all municipal schools. To do this, you need to fill out an online form in which the parents’ income is indicated. But, as practice has shown, the healthy eating program did not bring the desired result. Healthy food is too expensive for American schools. And the suppliers are not at all concerned about the food quality of the products. So the children simply throw them away and eat their products from lunch boxes. The question arises, are we not following the sad scenario of the US experience?
But schools in the Netherlands and Australia do not provide school lunches at all. So children go home for lunch during long breaks. And in schools there are cafes where you can buy sandwiches, lemonade, tea or juice. However, the queues there are so long that it is better for children to take a lunch box with them.
As we can see, the school food system, despite all the loud promises and statements, remains imperfect. Despite the steps taken by the state, there are many unresolved problems. On paper, the new standards look progressive, but in real life they often do not translate into a high-quality and balanced menu for schoolchildren. Lack of proper supervision, lack of funding and indifference to the real needs of children create a situation where healthy eating remains more of a dream than a reality.
In order to provide children with healthy nutrition, it is necessary not only to implement new standards and to chase the untested experience of foreign countries, which obviously have their own pitfalls, but also to ensure their real implementation on the ground. Often, state schools, not having sufficient funds, are simply left to their own devices and forced to cook whatever they want from low-quality products. Changing the situation requires more than just changes in documents. True responsibility for every meal that is served to our children is absolutely necessary. Their health depends on high-quality nutrition, and therefore the health of the nation’s future.
