EVALUATION OF MEAL PRODUCTION IN INSTITUTIONAL SCHOOL RESTAURANTS UNDER SUSTAINABLE OPTICS
Sustainability; Sustainable Nutrition; Food Security.
The production of meals in institutional restaurants covers several nuances, especially in the current scenario of intense relationship between food and climate change, water scarcity, social and economic inequality and the incidence of morbidities in the world population. Thus, the present research consisted of evaluating five Institutional Teaching Restaurants (ITR) of the federal public sphere, integrating four distinct dimensions of Sustainable Nutrition - economic, social, environmental and health. Regarding social and economic dimensions, the analysis of foodstuffs acquired during 1 month, in each ITR, was performed through the Foodstuffs Acquisition Method, assessing the origin of foodstuffs and the financial investment based on the degree of food processing; the nutritional profile of the acquired foodstuffs was also evaluated. The menus offered in the period of 1 month were evaluated for environmental and health perspective, through the assessment of Water Footprint (WF) and nutritional composition. Finally, Environmental Performance (EP) as well as Hygienic-Sanitary Conditions (HSC) were evaluated through checklists applied in the production environments of the evaluated restaurants. The results showed that in the period evaluated, the ITR acquired on average 43% of foodstuffs of local origin, 29% of national origin, 17% regional, 11% state and no food of international origin. Most of the financial investment (60.8%) was spent on “fresh” or “minimally-processed” foods. The nutritional profile of the acquired foodstuffs showed sodium excess in 68.8% of foods. Excess of free sugars (41.2%), sweeteners (15.1%), total fat (46.2%), saturated fat (46.7%), and trans fats (19.5%) were also found. Regarding the evaluation of the WF of the menus, a daily average per capita of 2311.06 liters was identified. The results of the environmental performance and sanitary conditions evaluation in the ITR showed an average adequacy of 74.3% (DP=9,81) and 72.4%, (DP=17,67) respectively.