TY - JOUR
T1 - Are school meals a viable and sustainable tool to improve the healthiness and sustainability of children´s diet and food consumption? A cross-national comparative perspective
AU - Oostindjer, Marije
AU - Aschemann-Witzel, Jessica
AU - Wang, Qing
AU - Skuland, Silje Elisabeth
AU - Egelandsdal, Bjørg
AU - Amdam, Gro
AU - Schjøll, Alexander
AU - Pachucki, Mark C.
AU - Rozin, Paul
AU - Stein, Jarrett
AU - Lengard Almli, Valerie
AU - Van Kleef, Ellen
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 The Author(s). Published with license by Taylor & Francis © 2017, © Marije Oostindjer, Jessica Aschemann-Witzel, Qing Wang, Silje Elisabeth Skuland, Bjørg Egelandsdal, Gro V. Amdam, Alexander Schjøll, Mark C. Pachucki, Paul Rozin, Jarrett Stein, Valerie Lengard Almli and Ellen Van Kleef.
PY - 2017/12/12
Y1 - 2017/12/12
N2 - There is little agreement among governments, institutions, scientists and food activists as to how to best tackle the challenging issues of health and sustainability in the food sector. This essay discusses the potential of school meals as a platform to promote healthy and sustainable food behavior. School meal programs are of particular interest for improving public diet because they reach children at a population scale across socio-economic classes and for over a decade of their lives, and because food habits of children are more malleable than those of adults. Current research on the history and health implications of school meal programs is reviewed in a cross-national comparative framework, and arguments explored that speak for the need of a new developmental phase of school meals as an integrative learning platform for healthy and sustainable food behavior. Nutritional, social, practical, educational, economical, political, and cultural perspectives and challenges linked to the implementation of healthy and sustainable school meals are discussed. Finally, the need for long-term interventions and evaluations is highlighted and new research directions are proposed.
AB - There is little agreement among governments, institutions, scientists and food activists as to how to best tackle the challenging issues of health and sustainability in the food sector. This essay discusses the potential of school meals as a platform to promote healthy and sustainable food behavior. School meal programs are of particular interest for improving public diet because they reach children at a population scale across socio-economic classes and for over a decade of their lives, and because food habits of children are more malleable than those of adults. Current research on the history and health implications of school meal programs is reviewed in a cross-national comparative framework, and arguments explored that speak for the need of a new developmental phase of school meals as an integrative learning platform for healthy and sustainable food behavior. Nutritional, social, practical, educational, economical, political, and cultural perspectives and challenges linked to the implementation of healthy and sustainable school meals are discussed. Finally, the need for long-term interventions and evaluations is highlighted and new research directions are proposed.
KW - School meals
KW - children
KW - food behavior
KW - health
KW - learning
KW - sustainability
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U2 - 10.1080/10408398.2016.1197180
DO - 10.1080/10408398.2016.1197180
M3 - Article
C2 - 27712088
AN - SCOPUS:85029698577
SN - 1040-8398
VL - 57
SP - 3942
EP - 3958
JO - Critical reviews in food science and nutrition
JF - Critical reviews in food science and nutrition
IS - 18
ER -