RESTORATION IN SCHOOLS : CURRENT SITUATION IN THE REGION OF RHONE-ALPES

A survey on school lunches has been carried out in primary and secondary schools in the Rhone Alpes area to assess if dietary guidelines of June 25 th 2001 French regulation are well applied or not and to try to identify the difficulties encountered. he results of the surveys which have been mailed to school administrators and the analysis of meals composition show that these guidelines are little applied in secondary schools and in primary schools of small towns, while big cities are able to propose better balanced lunches. In secondary schools, lunch time very often takes less than 30 minutes, and there are too many "a la carte" menus which are not favourable especially considering the low level of nutritional information given to pupils. In all school settings, the following points can be considered as well-controlled: the availability of bread, no soft drinks during lunch and a good frequency of raw fruits and vegetables. Weak points to be improved concern too many high fat protein foods and a lack of fish and of high calcium level dairy products.