[Evaluation of school menu food balance in the Autonomous Community of Valencia (Spain) by means of a questionnaire]. / Evaluación del equilibrio alimentario de los menús escolares de la Comunidad Valenciana (España) mediante un cuestionario.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate school menu food balance in the Autonomous Community of Valencia (Spain) by means of a questionnaire. METHOD: Observational cross-section study. For convenience it shows of 255 monthly school menus (20 days each). INDEPENDENT VARIABLES: size of the city the school is in, province, location (coast vs. inland), ownership (public vs. private), design of the menu (company vs. school) and month (May vs. October). The 17-item EQ-MEs questionnaire was used as a tool to measure balance. Differences in the balance of the menus and the average of monthly servings were compared, taking into account the different levels of the independent variables. RESULTS: The average of the balance index obtained was 9.19 points (range: 0-17). Approximately 78.4% of menus were designed by companies. Approximately 60.4% were classified as suitable and 0.8% as balanced. The menus designed by companies obtained a higher score (9.49) than those designed by schools (8.13). Menus in Castellón (10.35) achieved a higher score than those in Alicante (9.43) and Valencia (8.86). Only 3.1% of the studied menus met serving recommendations in terms of meat, 37.6% met pulses serving recommendations, 49.4% met fish serving recommendations and 37% met fruit serving recommendations. CONCLUSION: With the EQ-MEs questionnaire, most of the menus offered in the Autonomous Community of Valencia are suitable for children. To improve them, they should reduce fried potato, rice, pasta, meat, fried food and dairy product servings, while increasing pulses, fish, oily fish and fruit servings.

Fiabilidad de un cuestionario para evaluar el equilibrio alimentario de menús escolares / Reliability of a questionnaire to evaluate the food balance of school menus

Una adecuada planificación del menú escolar puede servir como estrategia en la prevención de la obesidad infantil y las enfermedades crónicas no transmisibles. El objetivo del estudio fue aportar evidencias de fiabilidad de un cuestionario capaz de evaluar el equilibrio alimentario (cualitativo) de menús escolares. El cuestionario estudiado constaba de 17 ítems referidos a grupos de alimentos, técnicas culinarias y la combinación de los platos para su uso en la evaluación de la oferta alimentaria en comedores escolares (cuestionario EQ-MEs). Para la fiabilidad se analizó la reproducibilidad (coeficiente de correlación intraclase y de Pearson), tanto el grado de acuerdo intraobservador como entre dos observadores, de una muestra de 255 planificaciones mensuales de menús para 20 días ofrecidos en la Comunitat Valenciana (España). Se completó el estudio con el análisis gráfico de Bland-Altman. La asociación intraobservador mostró un coeficiente de correlación intraclase entre 0,940 y 1, y de Pearson entre 0,900 y 0,990. La comparativa interobservadores reflejó una asociación con valores entre 0,771 y 0,980 para el coeficiente de correlación intraclase (excepto para el ítem combinación de platos con 0,516), y entre 0,895 y 0,845 para el de Pearson (excepto para el ítem combinación de platos con 0,350). El análisis gráfico de Bland-Altman mostró también las altas asociaciones encontradas. En conclusión, el cuestionario EQ-MEs es un instrumento fiable para evaluar el equilibrio de menús escolares, de fácil utilización y que permite clasificarlos(AU)

Proper school menu planning can serve as a strategy in the prevention of childhood obesity and chronic noncommunicable diseases. The aim of the study was to provide reliable evidence of a questionnaire that allows to evaluate the food balance of school menus. There was studied the reliability of a questionnaire of 17 articles referred to groups of food, culinary technologies and the combination of the plates for his use in the evaluation of the food offer in school dining rooms (questionnaire EQ-MEs). For the reliability there was analyzed the reproducibility (intraclass correlation coefficient and of Pearson), so much degree of agreement intra-observer as between two observers, of a sample of 255 monthly plannings of menus for 20 days offered in the Valencian Community (Spain). The study was completed with the Bland-Altman graphical analysis. The association test-retest showed an intraclass correlation coefficient between 0.940 and 1, and of Pearson between 0.900 and 0.990. Comparative inter-observers it reflected an association with values between 0.771 and 0.980 for the intraclass correlation coefficient (except for the article combination of plates with 0.516), and between 0.895 and 0.845 for that of Pearson (except for the article combination of plates with 0.350). Bland-Altman's graphical analysis showed also the high opposing associations. In conclusion, the EQ-MEs questionnaire is a reliable instrument to evaluate the balance of school menus, easy to use and classifying them(AU)