The effect of obligatory versus voluntary school food standard implementation on the fulfillment of the school food standard requirements in Germany

Background

In high income countries there is increased focus on health- and sustainability aspects concerning school feeding. To ensure this in Germany, a school food standard (SFS) was established. Implementation of the SFS is mandatory only in some federal states and has remained voluntary in others. The aim of this first exploratory study is to analyze school lunch menus regarding their fulfillment of the SFS requirements and detect differences between obligatory and voluntary implementation of the SFS.

Methods

After drawing a random sample of schools and reaching out for voluntary participation in this study, school menus of federal states with obligatory (OSFS) and voluntary (VSFS) SFS implementation were collected and analyzed. The SFS criteria are based on the conditions observed in the menu for a four-week mixed diet menu, an ovo-lacto-vegetarian dish, additional criteria for menu planning and menu criteria. In addition, we estimated binominal logistic regression models and two-step multiple regression models to control for the effects of geographical factors and socioeconomic status to the fulfillment of the SFS criteria.

Results

We assessed 48 menus from OSFS federal states and 102 menus from VSFS federal states. OFSF menus met the requirements to a higher extent and exhibited a better dietary pattern. School food-standardized meals included significantly less breaded and deep-fried components (96 % vs. 79 %, p = 0.009), contained more whole grain products (83 % vs. 30 %, p < 0.001) and fewer meat products (60 % vs. 25 %, p < 0.001), more fruits (81 % vs. 63 %, p = 0.023) and more vegetables, legumes and salad (85 % vs. 61 %, p = 0.002). Menus with SFS obligation emphasized nutrient optimized menus significantly more frequently (42 % vs. 28 %, p < 0.001) and used unambiguous designations of meals more often (96 % vs. 82 %, p = 0.023). They contain more regional products (33 % vs. 13 %, p = 0.003), more organic products (71 % vs. 41 %, p < 0.001) and meat from animal friendly husbandry (21 % vs. 7 %, p = 0.012). The effects of the covariates were rarely significant.

Conclusion

School menus with obligatory use of the SFS met the requirements to a greater extent and contain healthier and sustainable food components more frequently. Nevertheless, results show that even in federal states with obligational use, the standard implementation is not fulfilled completely. Further research is needed to detect barriers in the daily implementation of the SFS.