Nutritional content of school meals in Hull and the East Riding of Yorkshire: a comparison of two schools

Abstract

Although Hull's school meals aimed to provide children with adequate nutritional intake, findings demonstrate that, on average, children are served and consume inadequate levels of many nutrients.

Feeding strategies used by primary school meal staff and their impact on children’s eating

“…Welsh Assembly Government, 2007), there is no guarantee children will eat it. A similar phenomenon has already been found in England (Gatenby, 2007). Furthermore, an opportunity existed for catering staff to modify the nutritionally poor choice behaviours evident at the service point, yet the enhanced training recommended within the transformation programmes focuses on cooking skills.…”

“…School meal provision in the UK is the subject of several government improvement initiatives where the revision of nutritional standards is pivotal (Department of Health, 2004; Scottish Executive, 2002; Welsh Assembly Government, 2007). There is emerging evidence that children may neither select nor consume nutritionally balanced meals, even if they are available, thus compromising their overall nutrient intake (Gatenby, 2007). It is therefore important to understand potential influences on eating in the school meal setting, such as the feeding strategies adopted by school meal staff.…”

Health improvement, nutrition-related behaviour and the role of school meals: the usefulness of a socio-ecological perspective to inform policy design, implementation and evaluation

“…In the UK, reciprocal relationships are also evident between the policy and intra-personal levels in the form of pupil consultation mechanisms such as School Nutrition Action Groups (SNAGs) (Scottish Executive 2002, School Meals Review Panel 2005, Welsh Government 2008a. Nevertheless, indications are that even if nutritionally balanced meals are available, some children may not consume them (Gatenby 2007 At the organisational level, further processes associated with the structures required for policy implementation mediate socio-ecological relationships between the policy and intra-personal levels (i.e. the influence of policy on behaviour and vice versa).…”

Reliability of the School Food Checklist for in‐school audits and photograph analysis of children’s packed lunches

“…There are calls for improvements in both children’s home‐packed lunches and lunches provided by schools (Davies et al. , 2008; Gatenby, 2007; Rees et al. , 2008).…”

“…Because children consume approximately one-third of their daily energy intake at school (Bell & Swinburn, 2004), the quality of their school lunch has a significant impact on their overall diet quality. There are calls for improvements in both children's home-packed lunches and lunches provided by schools (Davies et al, 2008;Gatenby, 2007;Rees et al, 2008). Given the increased awareness of the importance of a healthy diet, and recognition that the school lunch and break times are important intervention points for changing children's health behaviours, accurate information about the quality of children's school lunches is required.…”