Quality and Quantity of School Lunch in Nanjing: Based on Data from the Sunshine Restaurant Supervision Platform.
Nutrients
; 16(14)2024 Jul 09.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-39064627
ABSTRACT
School lunch plays an important role in children's healthy growth. Previous investigations revealed many problems with school lunches, including unreasonable dietary structure and insufficient micronutrients. This study aimed to assess the dietary structure and nutritional quality of lunches in Nanjing primary and middle schools. A stratified cluster random sampling method was used to select 44 schools that supply lunch in 12 districts in Nanjing, with two primary and two middle schools in each district. Twenty-four primary and twenty middle schools were selected. The Mann-Whitney U test was used to explore the influencing factors. Findings revealed a serious shortage of milk and fruit in school lunches; supply of eggs, fish, shrimp, and shellfish was less than half of the recommended quantity; livestock and poultry supply exceeded the recommended level by over four times. Energy and nutrition intake were suboptimal. Provision of energy, carbohydrates, vitamins (A, B1, B2, and C), calcium, and iron in urban primary schools was significantly higher than that in non-urban primary schools. The same pattern of significantly higher nutrients was equally seen in urban middle schools compared with non-urban middle schools, indicating that food supply was affected by regional economies. Therefore, it is urgent to improve the quality of lunches, with a particular focus on those in non-urban areas.
Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Schools
/
Lunch
/
Food Services
/
Nutritive Value
Limits:
Child
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
Country/Region as subject:
Asia
Language:
En
Journal:
Nutrients
Year:
2024
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
China