Las dietas escolares serán saludables, variadas y nutritivas según la ley.

Midway through last month, the Minister of Social Rights, Consumption, and Agenda 2030, Pablo Bustunduy, announced that at least 45% of the fruits and vegetables served in school cafeterias must be seasonal and, if possible, locally sourced.

This was revealed during his trip to Valencia to learn about the Horta Cina program for the first time, a project developed by the Center for Studies and International Rural Agriculture (CERAI), which was awarded the «Activists for 2024» prize for «Strengthening healthy, sustainable, and quality food» in school menus.

He announced that the royal decree for Healthy and sustainable school cafeterias on which he was working, aims to provide nutritious and healthy school meals consisting of five meals per week that meet certain criteria and provide the necessary calories according to their ages.

Five healthy meals each week

The Council of Ministers recently approved the Royal decree for healthy and sustainable school cafeterias, a document presented by Pablo Bustunuy and prepared by the ministry he leads (Social Rights, Consumption, and Agenda 2030) with four more ministries as co-owners (Education, Professional Training and Sports; Agriculture, Fisheries, and Food; Health and Youth).

As highlighted by Bustora in the press conference held at the Moncloa Palace after the Council of Ministers, this new regulation will ensure that five healthy meals are served per week in all schools.

This includes: Public, private, and charter schools that provide early childhood education (Second cycle), primary education, special education, compulsory secondary education, high school, or basic vocational training cycles.

In this way, the Minister explained, the royal decree will ensure that all children and adolescents in our country have daily access to a healthy, nutritious, and varied diet in school cafeterias, regardless of their families’ income levels.

This last point is crucial, noted Bustoranduy, because, as he stated, The school cafeteria is a fundamental tool for reducing inequality and ensures the right of all children to a quality diet and to acquire healthy nutritional habits for the rest of their lives.

On this issue, the Minister recalled one of the findings from the latest Aladino study: Half of the students (46.7% of those aged 6 to 9) from families with incomes below €18,000 per year are overweight.

This is due to the fact that, as indicated by this study, they cannot afford more fresh foods, such as fruits and vegetables, and they also do not have a complete breakfast. Therefore, this decree aims to ensure that school cafeterias provide students with equal access to healthy foods.

Healthy, local, and inclusive

The royal decree stipulates that all schools with cafeterias must ensure that students consume fresh fruits and vegetables daily, specifying that at least 45% of the fruits and vegetables served are seasonal, to promote healthier and sustainable gastronomic models and, at the same time, to strengthen local production.

This is a significant task, said Minister Bustinduy, as it will provide a benefit to Spanish farmers and breeders in a challenging context like the current one, due to the international tariff war initiated by the United States.

The Minister also explained that they have tested the benefits of this proposal in different successful experiences in various parts of the country, such as the EcoComber Project in the Canary Islands or the Horta Cina Project in the Valencian community.

Bustinduy got to know these projects firsthand in recent months by visiting some of the school cafeterias that are part of these initiatives. Along these lines, the Minister also emphasized that the standard indicates that at least two dishes per month or 5% of expenses are allocated to environmental production.

Bustinduy also focused on the royal decree ensuring increased consumption of fish, legumes, and whole grains in school cafeterias. To achieve this, the standard sets weekly portions based on recommendations from scientific and health organizations, such as AESAN (Spanish Food and Nutrition) or WHO (World Health Organization).

Based on this, the standard sets servings between one and three times per week, a frequency that will significantly increase fish consumption, as there are approximately 1,200 school cafeterias in Spain where fish is never served (according to the data from the report of the National Plan for Official Food Chain Control 2021-2025).

Likewise, encouraging the presence of legumes due to their high nutritional value and health benefits in the menus, whether in the first or second course or as a side dish.

Currently, according to data provided by the autonomous communities, up to 14% of school cafeterias do not comply with serving legumes at least once a week. In the case of cereals, the royal decree stipulates offering at least one serving of brown rice or whole grain pasta, in addition to various whole wheat bread.

No more pastries or industrial sugars added

Another noteworthy point of the royal decree, stated Bustnduy, is that they will not be allowed to serve sugary beverages in school cafeterias, nor sell them in vending machines or cafeterias in these centers.

In this line, they will also eliminate energy drinks and sugary foods (such as industrial pastries) that are marketed in these machines and cafeterias. Specifically, products that exceed a maximum content of 5 grams of sugars per packaged portion and do not comply with:

• The energy value per packaged portion must not exceed 200 kilocalories. This is related to the recommendation of distributing the required energy throughout the day: 25% for breakfast (or 15% if it is a light breakfast and supplemented with 10% at lunch), 35% in lunch foods, 10% in snacks, and the remaining 30% for dinner. Therefore, considering that students aged 4 to 16 have energy needs of 2,000 kilocalories per day, the lunch and snack offerings from midday should not provide more than 10% of the total daily energy; that is, a maximum of 200 kilocalories.
• Calories from fats should not exceed 35%. This means that the maximum fat content will be 7.8 grams for a portion not exceeding 200 kilocalories.
• Where saturated fats, the calories from this source must not exceed 10%. In other words, it must have a maximum of 2.2 grams of saturated fat for a portion limited to 200 kilocalories.
• For added or free sugars, the same percentage, maximum 10% of calories from this source, which means a maximum of 5 grams of added sugars for a portion of 200 kilocalories.
• And in terms of sodium, the maximum should be 0.5 grams (0.2 grams of sodium) for the aforementioned 200-kilocalorie portion.

Currently, as detailed in the aforementioned report of the National Food Chain Control Plan, nearly 70% of school vending machines violate the nutritional criteria that were recommended, while among the cafeterias in these centers, the violation is even higher, affecting 74% of them.

Fried and pre-ordered once a month

Minister Bustinduy also emphasized that this royal decree will limit pre-ordered foods to once a month. This means that foods like pizza, turnovers, or pre-paid fried foods can only be served once a month.

On the other hand, fried foods made on the same day (not from pre-products) can be served once a week, preferably with olive oil or oleic sunflower oil.