06/02/2012

A course on “School Diets” was held recently within the cycle ‘Institutional Food’, organised by the CEU San Pablo University and the Tomas Pascual Institute for Nutrition and Health through the Chair set up in the university. The course aims to tackle the problem of feeding large groups of people who, mainly, have the same needs and a high proportion of whom go to some type of institution to satisfy these to some extent.

The Executive Director of the Spanish Agency for Food Safety and Nutrition took part in one of the round tables talking on schools programmes. Ana Troncoso’s speech related to the PERSEO Programme (Pilot Programme in Schools for Health, Physical Exercise and against Obesity) , which started up in order to promote healthy food and physical exercise in primary schools (6-10 year-olds).

One of the key factors in PERSEO is training school children and their families, school managers and teachers, and health centre workers around the schools. Actions have been taken in school dining-rooms to assess the menus and suggest changes in their composition, in order to provide better balanced food combinations.

Also taking part was Juan Manuel Ballesteros, Advisory Member of the NAOS Strategy from the Spanish Agency for Food Safety and Nutrition, with a speech on the Consensus Document on School Dining-rooms, stating that there is unanimity in recognising that a varied, balanced diet is a key factor in proper development of the body in children and to prevent illnesses that may appear when they are adult. Thus, schools commonly receive actions promoting healthy eating habits.

Course programme “School Diets” ( Pdf, 280.8 Kb )