A nutritional survey of Sheffield school meals.

The aim of the Sheffield School meals survey was to investigate the nutritional content of the food as offered to, as eaten by and as left on the plate by the children at school lunch. The childrens' food preferences were also examined, together with any interrelationships between these and the plate waste results. The survey was carried out in 35 primary schools, a sample size of 17.6% of the total number of primary schools in Sheffield. There were two parts to the survey: the measurement of food during school lunch and the administration of a food preference questionnaire. The measurement of food yielded the following information: a) Amount of food served to the children, b) Amount of food eaten by the children, c) Amount of plate waste left by the children, and from this information various nutritional calculations were made. Before the preference questionnaire could be handed out, a pilot survey was carried out on three different formats and the most suitable one was chosen for the major survey. Information obtained from the questionnaires included preference ratios of the foods tested as well as indication of the childrens "understanding" of food items. It was found that the nutritional content of the meals in Sheffield did not reach the standards set by the Department of Education and Science. The average plate waste value was 8% and several factors influenced the amount of plate waste including food groups, type of service, social groups and teacher's participation in dinner duty. The foods which the children liked best were chips and ice cream and the least popular foods were vegetables. These preference ratios were affected by the type of questionnaire used, the age of the child and the name of the dish or food. Preference ratios and wastage values of food groups correlated well but those of the individual food items did not. However, ranks of the popularity of foods obtained from the questionnaires correlated well with the ranking orders obtained from the waste measurements. In conclusion, there are many factors, including preference, which affect the amount of food eaten at school lunch.