40% countries do not have food safety rules in schools: Unesco report

India Today

21-04-2025

A new worldwide report by UNESCO's Global Education Monitoring (GEM) team sounded an alarm regarding the lack of adequate strong laws and regulations to oversee the quality of food and drinks consumed in schools. The report shows that only around 60% of the nations have regulations, which means that student health is perhaps not getting the attention it needs.Of the 187 countries questioned, a mere 93 had some type of law, standard, or policy regarding food and beverages offered at schools.advertisementAnd of the 93, fewer than a third had measures to limit promotion of food and soft drink brands in schools. The study was sponsored by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the School Meals Coalition.ALARMING STATE IN LOW AND MIDDLE INCOME COUNTRIES
The GEM staff also explored food and nutrition education in 30 low- and middle-income nations. It found that in most cases, it was being carried out in short-term projects or activities rather than in an integrated school curriculum.In another review, most school meal programmes were reported to have objectives of improving nutrition and health and social welfare. But only a few had attempts at preventing obesity or unhealthy weight gain.The report noted that most countries had some limitations on food marketing near schools, but national bans on the sale of certain foods near school campuses were not so common.advertisementFor the developed countries with high incomes, the nutrition policy emphasis was usually on public message and provision of food labelling.The report calls for more vigorous government action and sustained steps to promote student health with better food in schools.GLOBAL SCHOOL MEAL PROGRAMMES: GAPS IN COVERAGE, FUNDING AND ACCESSA recent global review shows 47% of children in primary schools -- about 459 million children -- were receiving school meals in 2024, from 418 million in 2022. However, there is wide disparity in how countries finance and implement these programmes.Despite having USD 80 billion international spending on school feeding, over 60% of programmes charge families for their share, and one-third are underfinanced - especially in low- and lower-middle-income countries.There is universal or near-universal coverage in Brazil, Finland, South Korea, and Sweden.India's PM-Poshan Scheme, formerly Mid-Day Meal Scheme, has increased the enrolment of girls and of marginalised communities. However, delayed fund transfers and poor real-time monitoring reporting have been problematic. Tamil Nadu has been in the vanguard with additional breakfast meals, improving attendance significantly.In high-income countries like the UK, coverage of school meals is vulnerable to budget cuts and inequalities of access. For example, in England, around 900,000 poor children are not covered owing to strict local criteria.Whereas many countries attempt to provide healthy, safe food, the success of school meal programs depends most on policy, the stability of funding, and effective local implementation.