1. School meals in the Nordic countries – practices and experiences in Sweden
October 12, 2015
Anna-Karin Quetel
Nutritionist
National Food Agency
Sweden

2. Centre of competence for meals in healthcare, schools and social services
I work at the Centre of competence for meals in healthcare, schools and social services at the national Food Agency. We support municipalities and health care services to improve the quality of public meals. There are 290 local municipalities in Sweden and most of them have a meal organization and a food service manager.

3. School food in Nordic countries
Finland
Hot cooked lunch
Free of charge
Iceland
Hot cooked lunch
Partly subsidized
Norway
Lunchbox from home
Milk and fruit in some schools
Sweden
Hot cooked lunch
Free of charge
Photo:

4. 1900
1956
In Sweden we have decided that all children receive a cost-free cooked food in school every day. So it has been for over 60 years.
It started off as local welfare voluntary initiatives to poor children in late 19th century. For a long time it was more in the form of “feeding” than a pleasant “meal”.
In 1940’s state gave governmental grants to municipalities that wanted to serve school lunches for free. In 1970’s most schools served a free school lunch.
Bild: Stockholms stadsmuseum Fotograf: Göran Jarborg
Bild: Stockholms stadsmuseum Fotograf: okänd

5. 2015
Nowadays school meals are cooked by professional chefs and school canteens are seen as restaurants.

6. The food is cooked and every other school has several dishes for the students to choose from. Together with the meal is a salad buffet, bread, margarine, milk and water.
Sweets, snacks or sugary drinks are not provided at school lunch.
Swedish school children's favorite foods are tacos, spaghetti Bolognese, pancakes, fried fish.
Many schools are working to make the food more sustainable by for example using organic products, limiting the amount of meat and looking at where food comes from.
But the food has to be tasty! Some investigations show that many children don´t eat enough for lunch. Some students also skip breakfast. More and more schools are trying to hire trained chefs to work in the school restaurant and many chefs see school restaurants as an exciting and challenging place to work. But it is also important that dining environment is calm and relaxed, and that students may be able to influence the menu.

7. Typical salad buffet at a swedish school lunch.

8. Hot cooked meal every day, often 2-3 alternative dishes.

9. High kitchen standards.

10. Lunch restaurant in a Swedish school.

11. Legal requirements
Cost-free and nutritious school meals to all children in compulsory school
(National Educational Act SFS 2010: kap. Grundskolan)
The national education act demands Swedish school meals to be nutritious and free of charge.

12. School meals in numbers
Total cost/year: EUR/student (6% of school budget)
Food stuff: 1,1 EUR/student
Number of students: 1,3 millions
Number of schools: 5000
National board of education – statistics from 2014

13. School meals are part of the education
Influences health, learning and well being
This was the idea behind the start of swedish school lunch program in the 1940’s. Today this is can sometimes be a challenge.
Too often, the school lunch risk becoming just a quick space in the schedule.
If the school lunch is to do any good, it needs to be integrated in schools core business.

14. Meal quality
When developing the new guidelines we also developed a model for meal quality in the form of puzzle. Some aspects of the model concerns safety and food legislation, nutrition and environmental aspects. But other factors such as pleasant dining environment, nice eating company and enough time to eat are also important. And all public meals should be an integrated part of the core activities in the business, for example part of the educational activities in school. Last but not least, the meals should of course be tasty.
This puzzle has shown to be useful in food policy development and communication to school leaders, students, parents and politicians. If the meal is to be eaten and do good – all areas of the model should be taken into account.
Se till att måltiden blir en skön upplevelse i en trygg miljö och lägg schemat så att alla elever kan äta lunch i lugn och ro
Få in matglädjen i köket, laga god mat med omsorg och smaka av ofta.
Se till att den serverade maten är näringsriktig och lagad på råvaror av god kvalitet. Erbjud gärna minst en alternativ rätt dagligen, med fördel ett vegetariskt alternativ som alla får ta av.
Se måltiden som en viktig resurs i det pedagogiska arbetet. Involvera pedagoger och elever i verksamheten och kvalitetsarbetet
Ha kompetens i köken, tydliga rutiner och regelbunden egen kontroll för att säkerställa att maten är säker så att ingen matgäst riskerar att bli sjuk
Bestäm hur ni vill att era måltider ska bidra till miljö arbetet och en hållbar konsumtion

15. Publications 2013
In 2013 we published revised guidelines for good school meals and also material for school leaders in collaboration with national Board of Education.
The guidelines are also available in English on our website.

16. The school meal as an educational tool.
Themes:
Food in our lives Health Environment
In 2014 we developed and published lecutre material with the school meal as an educational tool.

17. Foto: Johan Beer

18. Sapere-method Taste classes New revised teachers’ handbook
explore food with all senses, language development and courage to taste
New revised teachers’ handbook
In 2015 we revised the teachers handbook in the Sapere-method.
It aims to give students a language for taste, to explore food with all their senses and encourage them to taste new foods.

19. Student trainees in school kitchen
Here are some good examples from Swedish school meals.
Photos: Björkeskolan, Finspång, Sweden

20. Welcoming school restaurants
Photos: Håkan Lundholm, Vasaskolan, Sweden

21. Professional chefs
Photos: Mats Andersson, Fridaskolan, Mölnlycke, Sweden

22. Integrated school lunches
A-K
Exempel på integrerade måltider

23. Enormous developments in Swedish school lunches during last decade.
But still many schools lag behind.
We continue to coordinate and strengthen the competences and initiatives around the country. The aim is for all school students to enjoy a good school meal every day and leave the school restaurants full and in good mood.

24. Contact Anna-Karin Quetel Anna-karin.quetel@slv.se +46-18-17 56 04