The federal government will reduce from 20% to 15% the processed and ultra -processed food limit that will be able to compose the menu of Brazilian public schools by 2025, through the National School Feeding Program (PNAE). The goal is to offer healthier food to students, prioritizing more nutritious foods, local production and greater diversity of food culture in the country’s regions. 
The determination is in a new resolution of the National Fund for Education Development (FNDE), a municipality linked to the Ministry of Education (MEC). By 2026, the limit of ultra -processed lunch will be further reduced to up to 10%.
The program serves 40 million children and young people in 150,000 schools of the 5,570 municipalities in Brazil. There are 50 million daily meals and about 10 billion per year, with annual cost of about $ 5.5 billion.
The announcement was made during the 6th edition of the National Meeting of PNAE, in Brasilia, on the afternoon of Tuesday (4), in Brasilia, which was attended by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the Minister of Education, Camilo Santana , from other authorities, besides lunch boxes, nutritionists and members of the school community from various regions of the country, such as teachers, managers and the students themselves. The event had not occurred 15 years ago.
“Our historical debt to education is almost priceless in a century. Until the beginning of the last century, no one cared if child had to go to school. In fact, it was not mandatory to go to school. Girl could not go to school so as not to learn Writing letter to her boyfriend. And boy didn’t have to go to school because she had to go to work, cut cane, anything, “said Lula.
“And that justifies, when we invest in school feeding, because no one can study with empty belly. A child who leaves home without coffee, who did not have a quality dinner with the calories and proteins needed at night, which She will learn at school?
Food Quality
“We know the impacts of these foods [ultraprocessados] In the feeding of these children, the problem of obesity. Therefore, PNAE will guarantee quality in this food, “said Minister Camilo Santana, in a speech by announcing the measure.
The minister also reported that the program will prioritize the purchase of family farming with clipping for women farmers. The law already provides that 30% of food purchased from food agriculture should come from family farming. “PNAE already a great inductor and this new guideline further enhances this impact, ensuring that women farmers play a central role in the feeding of our schools.”
“We spent a long time at school, and with the snack that lunch makers, helps us in concentration, at the time of activity, the teacher’s explanation, in focus,” said student Miguel Moura, 13, a student of the 8th year of Elementary School 3 (CEF3), Sobradinho, in the Federal District.
Industrialized cookies came out, homicked, couscous, larger fruits offer, beans fresh, Among other foodstuffs, explains Jaqueline de Souza, a nutritionist who participates in the program. “It has greatly improved school feeding in the country,” he said in an institutional video released by MEC.
“Many times, school meals is the student’s only quality meal that day,” said FNDE President Fernanda Pacobahyba.
According to the Ministry of Health’s Food and Nutrition Surveillance System 2023, every seven Brazilian children, one is overweight or obese. This means 14.2% of children under five. The global average is 5.6%. Among adolescents, the rate is even higher and reaches 33% of the total.
Award
During the meeting, the government launched the Note 10 Food Project, to enable PNAE lunch and nutritionists in food and nutritional security. The investment will be R $ 4.7 million, in a partnership between FNDE, Itaipu Binacional, Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Minas Gerais and Foundation for the Development of Extension, Research, Vocational and Technological Education.
“The approach seeks to create a collaborative environment to promote healthy, sustainable and environmentally friendly food practices for more than 4,500 nutritionists,” the government said.
Increase in transfers
In 2023, after assuming the presidency, the Lula administration granted readjustment 39% in the value of school meals for the middle and elementary school, stages that represent more than 70% of the students served. For early childhood education and indigenous or quilombola schools, the readjustment was 35%, while for other steps and modalities, the percentage was 28%. Until then, school feeding was about six years without readjustment.
