School canteens in the Federal District, Brazil and the promotion of healthy eating

Revista de Nutrição

Erika Blamires Santos Porto¹  Bethsáida Abreu Soares Schmitz¹  Elisabetta Recine¹  Maria De Lourdes Carlos Ferreirinha Rodrigues¹ 

关键词: Feeding;    Food and nutrition education;    School feeding;    Alimentação;    Educação alimentar e nutricional;    Alimentação escolar;   

DOI  :  10.1590/1415-52732015000100003

来源: SciELO

【 摘 要 】

Objective: To characterize the school cafeterias in the Federal District of Brazil with respect to the promotion of healthy eating in schools. Methods: This is a descriptive, analytical, cross-sectional study, with a representative sample of schools with cafeterias in the Federal District, Brazil (n=202). The data were collected from April to November 2010 by means of on-site interviews and a structured questionnaire. The Pearson's chi-squared and Student's t tests were used. Results: A higher prevalence of outsourcing, and few employees and dieticians were observed. The prevailing foods were baked sausage, cheese, or chicken rolls or pastries. It was also found that 42.2% of the schools influence the menu of the cafeterias, and 58.6% of the representatives believe in the possibility of influencing the students' eating habits. However, 68.0% of the respondents do not believe in the economic feasibility of completely healthful school cafeterias. Approximately 30.0% of the respondents carry out activities to promote healthy eating. Conclusion: Most of the school cafeterias in the Federal District do not encourage healthful eating. The high prevalence of outsourced services with little interference from the school community gives high autonomy to the cafeteria's owner, whose priority is the pursuit of profit at the expense of the students' nutritional education. Improving the nutritional quality of school foods should be a continuous interactive effort of the food suppliers, principals, students, parents, and government authorities.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
 All the contents of this journal, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License