Anses Agence nationale de sécurité sanitaire Alimentation Environnement Travail

School meals

6 million children eat in canteens from nursery schools through to the end of high school, accounting for around 1 billion meals a year.

Whether good or bad, eating habits are acquired in childhood and have an impact on health. Improving the menus served at school, their balance, nutritional and health qualities, is a public health priority, especially as, for a good number of pupils, canteen meals are the main source of nutrients required for their development.
Moreover, 15% of 3-14 year olds are overweight, which is five times more than in 1960.

Canteen statistics

Who eats in canteens?
In France, 6 million children eat in canteens from nursery school through high school.
Analysis of the results of the second French Individual and National Study on Food Consumption (INCA2) revealed that the use of school canteens is related to geographic (region, population density) and socio-economic factors. It increases in proportion to the age of the children and the level of their parents' education. In nursery schools and primary schools, it is more common for children from single-parent families or families in which the mother works. From when they enter high school until they finish it, attendance at canteens increases for higher income-bracket households and when homes are further away from schools.

How many times a week do pupils eat at the canteen?
According to the INCA 2 study, 49% of 3 to 10 year olds, 66% of 11 to 14 year olds and 60% of 15 to 17 year olds eat lunch at least 3 times a week in school canteens.
According to the school meals study, 62% of secondary school students and 85% of pupils at agricultural high schools eat at the canteen at least 3 times a week.

How much does a canteen meal cost?
In 2005-2006, a meal cost on average €2.60 (excluding possible subsidies) in national education secondary schools and collèges (first four years of secondary education before high school) and €2.90 in agricultural establishments.
On average, the raw materials for a canteen meal cost €1.75 in 2005-2006 in national education secondary schools and colleges and €2.22 in agricultural establishments.

How much time, on average, does a pupil spend in the canteen?
Between 16 and 30 minutes in more than 3 out of 4 establishments.
Only 8% of National Education establishments and 5% of agricultural establishments follow the circular, which recommends at least 30 minutes for lunch in the canteen.

What facilities are available for washing hands?
Ninety percent of secondary schools and collèges have a wash basin near the canteen. However, the survey recorded that there is on average only one tap for 150 pupils in national education establishments.
Furthermore, almost one in ten establishments still use bar soap and one in five establishments use cloth towels for drying hands, which can lead to germs being transferred between children. Lastly, almost 20% of national education establishments do not provide either soap or drying facilities.

Do children eat balanced meals in the canteen?

Even though the meals in school restaurants offer a more balanced diet that those taken at home or in other restaurants, there is still room for progress in balancing diets in meals served in school canteens. On a positive note, products which have a high fat content are limited in starters and desserts and fruits and vegetables and starch-rich foods are proposed regularly. However an effort still has to be made to improve the quality of main dishes as not enough fish or red meat is offered and the fat content of main courses is too high. The calcium content of dairy products should also be improved. And while vegetables are well accounted for in canteens in mainland France, are they actually eaten? No one can be sure about this as ultimately it is up to the pupils to make the right choice.
In order to help them, efforts have been made to promote balanced diets. These vary however from one school to another: it all depends on whether cooks make their own menus or are advised by a dietitian or nutritionist, on whether the school has committed itself to providing a balanced diet and on whether the person responsible for purchasing food has had training in nutrition or not.

Twenty percent of collèges and high schools provide pupils with information on nutrition during meals. Furthermore, 31% of national education establishments and 53% of agricultural high schools hold information sessions on nutrition at least once every three months.
In order to further improve the nutritional quality of meals, the Agency recommends:
- pooling finances and human resources by getting local authorities to hire nutrition advisors and making them available to schools that need them and also by developing central purchasing of raw materials according to nutritional specifications.
- improving the training of personnel in nutrition and balanced diets.
- developing and providing schools with tools to help personnel draw up their menus, meet the needs of pupils requiring special diets and provide information sessions on balanced nutrition.
- giving nutritional recommendations the same regulatory status as for hygiene recommendations, as prescribed by PNNS 2.
This last point was taken into account in the Agricultural Modernisation Act of 27 July 2010 which makes it mandatory for school and university canteens to comply with rules for nutritional quality. The same provision was included in the National Programme for Food (PNA), announced on September 2010 by the Ministry of food, for the purpose, among others, of combining pleasure with a balanced diet in school canteens. It also plans to provide specific training for managers of school canteens.
The group for the study of institutional catering contracts and nutrition (GEMRCN) draws up rules for nutritional quality in school and university canteens in line with the Agency's recommendations.

Agency assessments of school canteens

The Agency has conducted several studies to assess canteen attendance and the nutritional quality of school meals.
It first undertook a review of nutrition and school meals, from nursery school to high school (1999), in which school meals were found to be nutritionally unbalanced (too high in fat, often lacking in iron and calcium, variable in protein content) and in which dairy products, fruit and vegetables were often lacking. A constant increase in the prevalence of child obesity in France was also observed.

The Agency therefore recommended updating the "school nutrition and health" circular of 1971, and a new circular was issued in 2001.The Agency then conducted a school meals study to determine whether the 2001 circular was being applied in collèges and high schools. During the 2005/2006 school year, 785 schools were asked for details on the way their canteens were organized and how the circular was being applied and to submit 20 consecutive menus for appraisal.

The French Individual and National Studies on Food Consumption, INCA1 (1998/99) and INCA2 (2006/2007) covering representative samples of the French population shed light on attendance of school canteens and related factors, including the impact on the overall diet of children. They also enabled a comparison of daily food consumption and nutrition between meals taken in canteens and in the home.

On 1 July 2010, AFSSA and AFSSET merged to create ANSES, French Agency for Food, Environment and Occupational Health Safety.

October 2010