Deténgase en la implementación del Decreto real para promover alimentos más saludables en comedores escolares.

The Royal Decree on Healthy and Sustainable School Cafeterias will ensure daily consumption of fruits and vegetables and ban sugary drinks during meals.

1. The Royal Decree on Healthy and Sustainable School Cafeterias will urge all schools to provide fruits and vegetables every day for their students and prohibit the consumption of sugary drinks during meals.
2. The goal, as stated by Bust Induy, is to guarantee that all boys and girls have access to healthy foods since, as the Aladdin Study shows, families with low incomes have more overweight issues, consume multiple sugary drinks, and have a lower intake of fruits and vegetables.
3. Following the Aladdin Study, only a third of families believe that the food served in their schools is of good quality.

Pablo Bustinduy announced that the Royal Decree on Healthy and Sustainable School Cafeterias currently being processed by the ministry he leads will determine that schools can only serve one ration per month at most, with pre-cooked dishes like pizza, croquettes, turnovers, or fries, among others.

Bustinduy also emphasized the importance of regulating school cafeterias to address challenges highlighted by the latest Aladdin study, which reveals a prevalence of overweight and obesity among students from low-income families.

The minister also mentioned addressing the data collected in the latest report on the National Plan for Official Food Chain Control, which indicates that almost a third of school cafeterias (32.9%) serve four or more precise dishes per month, a situation that the new regulations will address.

Furthermore, Bustinduy stated that schools align with nutritional standards endorsed by scientific and international organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO).

The aim is to have less precise and healthier meals with fresh products.

In this way, Bustinduy once again shared part of the content of the new Royal Decree on Healthy and Sustainable School Cafeterias, a document whose purpose is to improve the quality of food served in school cafeterias, promote sustainability, and address health income inequalities.

Therefore, the minister has already announced that with the new standard, schools must ensure that the five meals prepared each week in schools and institutes meet health and sustainability criteria.

He mentioned that before the Royal Decree on Healthy and Sustainable School Cafeterias bans sugary drinks during meals and ensures daily consumption of fruits and vegetables in school cafeterias.

Additionally, he explained that the regulatory text stipulates that at least 45% of the fruits and vegetables served in schools and institutes must be seasonal and at least 5% of the monthly expenses allocated by the school cafeteria for purchasing products must be used to buy organic produce.

An important aspect of the Royal Decree on Healthy and Sustainable School Cafeterias highlighted by Bustu are the references it includes for schools to embrace short production circuits and local food to access more sustainable products and support local economies.

The minister also emphasized that with the new standard, ultra-processed and high-calorie foods will be limited and schools must offer meat and fish that meet nutritional quality standards.

The amount of legumes and whole grains in school menus should be increased

On the other hand, through this Royal Decree on Healthy and Sustainable School Cafeterias, the ministry led by Pablo Bustunuy proposes to restrict the sale of industrial pastries and sugary drinks in vending machines and school cafes.

These are products that exceed a maximum content of five grams of sugars per portion of packaging. This restriction would also apply to those known as energy drinks.

Additionally, the regulatory text proposes a ban on vending machines providing advertising for any product and these machines should not be installed in areas accessible to children and primary school students.

Once again, the goal is to align with the criteria set by health organizations such as the WHO, this time regarding limits on fat, sugar, and salt intake, as well as following the trends indicated by the National Plan for Official Food Chain Control study.

According to this study, in secondary education centers where vending machines are present, 70% (68.82%) violate the nutritional criteria established by the WHO.

The violation percentage is even higher in cafes, almost 75% (74.36%). Another concerning fact is that the trend towards these criteria has worsened in recent years. In 2021, 57% of centers complied with the criteria, in 2022, this figure decreased to 37.50%, and in 2023, it dropped to 31.8%, which is the latest year for which data is available.