SCHOOL CATERING: REGULATORY CHANGES AND CONSTRAINTS

OBJECTIF NUTRITION 80 (JULY 2006)
by Marie-Line HUC, Freelance dietician, Angoulême.

In France, school catering services concern one in two children. They are intended to provide them with the best possible nutrition. This is why school catering is given particular attention by the public authorities. However, several studies have demonstrated both excess (fats or simple sugars) and deficit intakes (fruit, vegetables, dairy products, red meat and fish). Because of the financial implications, nutrient density criteria have occasionally been sacrificed. It is therefore important to know and diffuse information on the recommended standards and restrictions imposed by regulations.

SOME HISTORY

The first school canteens for French children were opened in the mid-19th century. Collective meals were then under the supervision and initiative of parents and teachers alike. Gradually, municipalities began implementing food aid measures for children in need.
The children’s meals consisted of bread, milk and a single dish prepared at home and warmed up in a frying pan at school (or a warm, thick soup prepared with farm produce donated to the school). The meals were taken in classrooms during winter and outside in the schoolyard or the playground in summer. The teachers organized and oversaw the meals. Wine could sometimes be served as accompaniment.  Only the very youngest were not allowed to drink it!
At the end of the 19th century, the Jules Ferry law on education made schooling mandatory in France. School canteens spread even further, designed
 as charity work ensuring minimal nutrient intake for underprivileged children. They were created and managed by the school or municipality without any governmental intervention. Only in 1936 did it become mandatory for schools to build or set up a canteen in already existing buildings. Students had to wait until the 1950s for the canteen environment to evolve. Today, school catering is not required to be under municipality supervision.  However, since the 1960s, it has continually developed, finally becoming one of the leading public services in the community: one in two children have lunch at the school canteen. In primary schools, towns use municipal services or private catering companies.  Middle school and high school establishments, which are placed under the responsibility of departmental and regional councils, manage the preparation of school meals directly.

EVOLUTION OF THE ROLE OF SCHOOL CATERING

In 1971, the French Ministry of Education issued the first circular concerning school catering: it remained highly focused on the fight against malnutrition. Since then, several other legal texts have been published.
• The circular relative to the composition of meals and food safety (special BOEN no. 9 of 28 June 2001).
Cosigned by eight French ministers, it covers the nutritional needs of children and adolescents and provides specific recommendations intended to guarantee a well-balanced diet. It also introduces the school establishment as a place of nutritional and taste education.   It states that the obligation of ensuring safety is one of the foundations of food law, outlining the necessary measures to guarantee it.
• The memorandum issued by the French Directorate General of Nutrition (Direction Générale de l’Alimentation) relative to the preparation of in-class meals (January 2002) discusses, more specifically, food safety issues concerning snacks, birthday and end-of-school-year parties organized by the students’ parents, etc.
• The circular No. 2003-135 relative to the admission of children and adolescents suffering from health problems evolving over long periods of time (BOEN No. 34 of 18 September 2003) is intended to harmonize conditions for admitting children with a chronic disease, allergy or food intolerance (Box 1).
• The circular No. 2003-210 relative to student health as part of the five-year prevention and education program (BOEN No. 46 of 11 December 2003) recommends concrete measures in the area of overweight and obesity prevention. More specifically, it recommends the installation of refrigerated water fountains in school establishments after consulting with the concerned regional authorities.

NUTRITIONAL RECOMMENDATIONS

The GPEM/DA (Groupe Permanent d’Étude des Marchés des Denrées Alimentaires) depends directly on the legal department of the French Ministry of Finance and Industry. It is intended to establish the technical rules necessary for the public control of foodstuffs and food catering services.
With respect to school catering, the GPEM/DA made recommendations on how to draw up specifications for institutional food service contracts. Its recommendations also apply to authorities under direct state control.

Goals:
• To reduce fat intake, by decreasing the prevalence of:
– fat-rich foods (dressing made with mayonnaise, cooked pork meats, salty baked goods),
– fried or pre-fried products (breaded, sautéed, browned, deep-fried),
– baked goods with a high fat content, meals with a high fat content and a proteins-to-fats ratio (P/L) below 1 (sausages, puff pastries, quiches, stuffing, etc.).
• To increase calcium intake by ensuring that cheese and dairy products rich in calcium have a real place in the diet.
• To increase iron intake: by serving red meats and fish and reducing the use of preparations (ground hamburger meat, stuffing, etc.)
containing a low proportion of so-called noble ingredients.
• To increase fiber and vitamin intake: by offering mixed salads, raw fruit and vegetables, and cooked vegetables as side dishes.

Validating the nutritional quality of menus:
The GPEM/DA suggested that meal-serving frequencies should be compared to maximum (fat-rich products and recipes) or minimum recommended frequencies (products and recipes with high nutritional density) to ensure pertinent menu choices.
Following recommendations helps guarantee the good nutritional quality of the served meals. Inspections target menus, serving frequency and products served.
• Menu inspections must collect the following information: date, precise description of each meal served, with additional explanations if necessary.
• Serving frequency inspections: the service provider must be in a position to prove that serving frequencies per food category are respected for a minimum of 20 successive meals based on the summary table (box 2).
• Product inspections: the service provider must be able to furnish fact sheets for dispensed products, including at least a list of ingredients, weight and nutrient facts (per 100 g or per serving). The required nutrient facts are:
– For all products: protein and fat content expressed per serving and 100 g.
– For dairy products and cheeses: calcium content expressed by portion and per 100 g.

RULES OF HYGIENE

While awaiting the publication of additional decrees specifying the provisions of the new European regulations designated as the “Hygiene Packet”, the rules of hygiene applying to mass catering establishments for schools are laid down in the French decree of 29 September 1997 (Journal Officiel of 23 October 1997).
The text makes it clear that the obligation to obtain results takes precedence over “due care”.

The directives concern:
• Setup, layout and equipment of premises:
– They enable sequencing of operations over time.
 "Dirty" sector operations (reception, prior storage, vegetable peeling, dishwashing, waste disposal) must be separated from “clean” sector operations (cold preparations, cooking, dressing, distribution,storage of ready-to-eat foods, storage of clean dishes).
– Storage capacities are to correspond to the establishment’s output levels and cold storage rooms must ensure food conservation at regulatory temperatures.

• Equipment:
– Materials used in construction and in equipment must be
 waterproof and enable effective cleaning and disinfection.
– Changing rooms must be placed at the disposal of the kitchen staff, together with restrooms properly equipped with hygiene supplies and a sufficient number of washbasins.
– A complete cleaning and disinfection schedule is to be established.

• Personnel:
– The personnel must observe strict personal hygiene and remain in good health (mandatory annual medical exam), undergoing specific food safety training annually.

• Food handling hygiene:
– Cold preparations (starters, cheese or dairy products, desserts) are stored refrigerated, immediately after being made until their time of consumption.
– Hot preparations (meat courses and side dishes) are maintained at a temperature above 63°C from the end of cooking until the time of serving. For some recipes (e.g. red meat roasts), tolerance is possible (lower temperature), but specific risk analysis must be established.
– Ground meats in mass catering must be strictly supervised, because grinding represents an important risk of contamination.
– Working with eggs in the shell is not prohibited but represents a certain risk of contamination with pathogenic bacteria. Some schools have decided to eliminate them.

• The suppliers must be approved and authorized.  Waivers are possible to enable local purchases, but the suppliers are then forced to make a request for a waiver with the departmental veterinary services.

 • Self-inspections are implemented by the establishments. They concern the quality of raw materials, the quality of preparations being made and the quality of finished products. Control sample meals must be preserved for 5 days after they were last served to the consumers.
They are intended as a health watch measure in case of food poisoning.

• The departmental veterinary services (DDSV) ensure that regulations are complied with. They can sanction non-compliant establishments and order non-compliant kitchens to be closed down.

• The decree of 22 December 2002 made it mandatory to display the origin of beef. The memorandum of August 2005 concerns food traceability.
All information on product origins must be preserved.

Conclusion

Members of the educational community, parents, teachers and school personnel have a major responsibility towards children: they must teach them how to feed themselves. The progress made since the first canteens opened their doors has been immense. However, many existing legal documents have the status of mere recommendations.
The French National Council of Food has therefore encouraged the development of a framework law intended to implement an obligation of results. This would be the culminating achievement of an effort that has continued to make headway in the right direction.

References