Laura Poy Solano
La Jornada newspaper
Sunday, April 13, 2025, p. 8
The United Nations Educational, Science and Culture Organization (UNESCO) called on its member countries to guarantee an increase in school meals, since only a quarter of students on the planet receives this benefit.
To this is added the need to improve the quality of food in school. A recent report indicates that 27 percent of school meals were planned without consulting nutritionists and only 93 countries (of the 187 evaluated) had legislation, standards or guidelines for food and drinks in schools.
Of these, 65 percent had rules for the sale of food and drinks in school coffee shops, food stores and vending machines.
The report Education and nutrition. Learn to eat well
states that Providing healthy school meals for each child would help to get 120 million of them from malnutrition by 2030, improve dietary health in adulthood and reduce deaths from diseases not transmissible by up to 3 million in low and medium -sized income countries
.
UNESCO emphasizes that governments and educational agents must introduce school meals based on fresh and local products
as well as boost the reduction of sweet and ultraprocessed foods in schools, an action that must be accompanied by food education in the curricula.
