Finnish school meals are not always as healthy as they should be

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The free school lunches served daily at Finnish schools do not always meet recommended nutrition standards. The greatest problem is the lack of fresh vegetables, but also the use of salt and fat is often excessive.
     
The failings of school meals were detected by a recent survey conducted by the Finnish Heart Association and the National Public Health Institute. The survey indicates that over 25 percent of the schools questioned did not serve fresh vegetables every day. Furthermore, in many schools the amount of salt added exceeded recommendations.
      The survey covered 800 large-scale catering kitchens in the public sector, serving day care centres, schools, workplaces, old people’s homes, hospitals, and other institutions.
      The majority of the catering kitchens served meals that did not meet the nutritional recommendations.
      According to the survey, the meals provided by day care centres fell furthest behind from the criteria. The main reason for the poor result was the fact that almost half of the day care centres’ kitchens did not offer children non-fat milk.
      "Contrary to common belief, children do not need fatty milk", argues nutritionist Pirjo Koivisto of the Finnish Heart Association.
     
Despite the problems revealed by the survey, Finnish school meals need only some adjustments, not any major revision, says Koivisto.
      On the other hand, most schools arrange self-service catering, which means that pupils and students may choose their own meals. "Even if a school meal was good and complied with the recommendations, children would not necessarily accept all of it", notes Koivisto.
     
At Aleksis Kivi Comprehensive School in Helsinki’s Kallio district, pupils in the lower grades typically eat more vegetables than older pupils. Particularly boys at the upper level tend to skip salad.
     
Catering Services Manager Heli Paasikoski suggests that instead of a salad, vegetables should be served separately in order to encourage pupils to make their own choices.
      About two million meals provided by large-scale catering kitchens are served in Finland every working day.
      The survey conducted by the Finnish Heart Association and the National Public Health Institute last year had four criteria. The "Basic criterion" defined that each lunch has to include margarine, non-fat milk, fresh vegetables, and rye bread or rye crisps.
      The "Fat criterion" measured both the quantity and quality of fat. For example sausage meals and potatoes with rich fat content should be served less frequently than once a week.
      According to the "Salt criterion", the use of salt has to be based on the health recommendations, not on taste preferences.
      The "communications criterion" recommended that the customer should be instructed on how to make healthy food choices.


Links:
  Finnish Heart Association
  National Public Health Institute

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