Abstract

VALERO GASPAR, Teresa et al. School Meals Programme of the Community of Madrid (2001-2015): design, protocol, methodology and update. Nutr. Hosp. [online]. 2016, vol.33, n.6, pp.1291-1298. ISSN 1699-5198.  https://dx.doi.org/10.20960/nh.773.

Introduction: At the end of the 20th century there was no precise knowledgment of whether the food delivered at schools supported the children's diets. Furthermore, this additional service was not included in the educational plan of the school, even though it had an impact in the pupils' education in several ways. Objective: To describe the origins and development of School Meals Programme of the Community of Madrid after 15 years of functioning. Methods: A law gathering all the nutritional aspects, composition and variety of the menus was implemented and had to be followed by all the catering companies. Such law was used in different terms (2001, 2002, 2005, 2009 and 2013) to choose who could access to the school meals service. Visits to the schools without previous warning took place to verify that they were complying with the standards. Results: The most recent nutritional standards about the planning and elaboration of the school menus are gathered at the 2013 "Pliego de Prescripciones Técnicas" (C-504/001-2013). As an average, 92% of the participating catering companies approved in the five terms. Until year 2014, 755 visits to these schools took place, revising a total of 574 of them. Conclusions: The School Meals Programme of the Community of Madrid, since the pioneer implementation in Spain, has markedly contributed to the improvement of this key service in the schools. Over these years new dietary requirements have been progressively introduced to produce more suitable menus to fit the scholar population recommendations.

Keywords : Primary schools; School meal; Nutrition; Children; Community of Madrid.

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