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The purpose of this paper is to provide a snapshot of secondary school food policy (SSFP) across the devolved nations (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) to offer insights into a growing area of policy concern. The selected context of research is school food policy (SFP), an area of research which has received little attention in terms of policy approaches. The review is focused on 2010 to 2022.

This work combines interdisciplinary perspectives spanning across food policy, public health, psychology, education and sociology. This combination has merit as it offers different perspectives in terms of understanding SFP. The study was conducted between August 2021 and March 2022, using a desk-based review, analysing policies on food in secondary schools. Data collection was conducted through the Web using key search terms. The READ (Read, Extract, Analyse, Distil) approach was used as a systematic procedure to analyse policy and evaluation documents.

To all levels of government, it is recommended that a coherent policymaking approach be used to tackle SSFP improvements, to progress a whole school approach to food, supported by long-term dedicated resources while engaging children in SSFP development. For education departments, it is recommended that a food curriculum review, connected to school meals alongside a refocus on school food standards monitoring and reporting is crucial in serving the future generations. The current economic crisis has had an impact on public spending. Universal Free School Meals has been said to make an enormous difference to well-being.

The current findings suggest that researching SFP across nations has merit. There is a relative lack of focus on secondary schools, in light of England’s focus on the National Food Strategy (focus on children), post-pandemic, economic crisis – together this makes school food and food policy a topic of real urgency and importance. Lessons can both be learned, particularly in promoting healthier and more educationally inclusive school food practices. Research in this area can inform curriculum design and school food environment and system changes from the perspective of learnings around taking a whole school food approach to education.

This study aims to gain an understanding from parents and teachers about the types of food provision practices and venues, and the food-related policies and rules in primary schools in Australia; and investigate any differences in the presence of policies and rules based on the school location and school type.

Data were collected via two online surveys from August 2019 to March 2020. Descriptive statistics were employed to analyse quantitative responses. Respondents' written responses to food-related policies were categorised into groups.

The two most common food provision services were canteen and lunch order services (mentioned by 72 and 55% of respondents, respectively). Of the 425 respondents whose schools had a canteen (parents and teachers together), 62% reported their school implements a healthy school canteen policy. Significantly more parents compared to teachers, and more respondents from government schools compared to non-government schools stated that their school had implemented such a policy. Approximately half of the respondents (47%) stated their school had implemented other food-related policies and/or rules. These policies or rules belonged to four categories: avoiding certain foods, avoiding food sharing, avoiding food packages and promoting healthy eating.

This study shows the disparities exist in implementing food-related policies among primary schools in Australia. Nutrition promoters and policy planners should consider these results and find the best mechanisms to minimise the gaps in policy implementation.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the paradoxical resistance of parent and private school food vendors to the paternalistic nature of school food policies. It develops the hypothesis that resistance, on the basis of them being “paternalistic”, is associated with implementers experiencing ethical breaches that contribute to frustration and low acceptability. This may be leading to accusations of paternalism and non-cooperation.

It takes a deontological perspective and uses Upshur’s (2002) public health ethics framework to explore the potential that parents involved in school fundraising and private school food vendors are experiencing ethical breaches associated with implementation of school food and beverage sales policies in the Canadian context.

Upshur’s (2002) harm principle highlighted how some implementers feel a loss of freedom in how they choose to function, which is perceived to be resulting in lost profits. Parents involved in fundraising activities may experience feelings of coercion. Opting out of fundraising may result in their children’s schools having fewer resources. Smaller private vendors are coerced through economic incentives while being bound by what products are available in the marketplace and the associated costs of items that comply with nutrition standards. Discussion around the reciprocity principle revealed implementers feel they are not adequately supported to implement. Transparency has been questioned where stakeholders report their perspectives are often not equally considered in decision making.

This is the first paper to explore the often cited resistance to the paternalistic nature of school food and beverage environment policies as an implementation barrier. Using a deontological ethical perspective offers an original way to discuss school food policies. This work offers potential leverage points at which policy-makers and practitioners may intervene to improve acceptability and contribute to more effective, consistent implementation.

Schools have long been perceived as an ideal setting to support the healthy eating behaviours of children. The aim of the study was to examine the views of Australian primary school parents regarding school food and nutrition, including education, practices and policy.

An online survey was conducted among 787 parents in March 2021, which included closed and open-ended questions.

The results indicated the inconsistent implementation of policies and/or varying practices among different schools. Parents’ views were slightly associated with some demographic and personal measures including their SES levels, education, age, the main language spoken at home and universalism values. Parents viewed healthy food provision through canteens, policies and informing parents, fruit and vegetable breaks and kitchen and garden programs as the main contributors to the promotion of healthy eating. They believed unhealthy options in canteens, school fairs, events and birthdays are the major contributors to the formation of unhealthy eating habits among children at schools. Results revealed the efforts to establish health promoting school food environments in Australian primary schools; however, inconsistencies and discrepancies among schools should be addressed to ensure equity among all children.

The findings may provide directions for policymakers and school managers and can inform future reforms and initiatives in Australian primary schools and elsewhere.

This is the first study that has examined Australian parents’ views of school food policy, practices and environments using a mixed-methods design.

Schools are thought to represent a growing marketing opportunity for food advertisers in many countries. Marketing of unhealthy food to children is linked to the increased prevalence of obesity worldwide. This paper aims to explore ways in which schools respond to commercial activity around food marketing.

A census survey in the Republic of Ireland was employed to investigate the extent of commercial activity in post‐primary schools in Ireland, with a focus on food marketing. School policies related to commercialism and promoting healthy living to children and respondents' attitudes to these issues were explored.

Food sales are a prevalent form of commercial activity in schools with 81.4 per cent operating shops or canteens that sell snacks, 44.7 per cent drinks vending machines and 28.0 per cent snack vending machines. A total of 38 per cent of schools reported that they accept for‐profit sponsorship and the primary reason was inadequate funding for equipment (91.6 per cent), especially sports equipment. The majority (87.3 per cent) agreed with establishing a national voluntary code of practice in relation to industry sponsorship, which is recommended by the Irish National Taskforce on Obesity. Few schools have policies that refer to commercial sponsorship (7.0 per cent), but schools would welcome receiving guidance and support in developing such policies.

The extent of commercial activity in schools and the possible effect on children and their families need to be disseminated widely. A mechanism for monitoring the type and volume of commercialism, and food marketing in particular, in schools in Ireland is necessary.

These findings provide a baseline to monitor the future direction of commercialism in Irish schools.

In many countries, schools move toward healthier canteen assortments by limiting the supply of unhealthy foods. The question arises whether this gives any undesirable side effects with students (e.g. compensation in purchases from school to outside retailers, reactance) and how to handle these so that operating school canteens remains financially viable. The purpose of this paper is to identify perspectives toward healthy school food assortments held by vocational education students and professionals within secondary and vocational schools with responsibility for school food policy (e.g. school canteen workers, teachers, school directors) in the Netherlands.

Four focus groups were conducted with students at a vocational school (n=25 in total). A semi-structured interview guide was used to conduct discussions. The interview guide also included three school canteen scenario’s (A: 100 percent healthy food, B: 50 percent healthy/50 percent unhealthy foods and C: 100 percent unhealthy food) and a set of nine intervention strategies. A brief survey included questions on the same three scenario’s and nine intervention strategies. A web-based survey was conducted among 68 professionals responsible for school food policy and included their evaluation of the same canteen scenarios and interventions. Survey data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and content analysis. Content analysis was done on the qualitative data.

School food professionals were highly supportive of Scenario A (100 percent healthy food), as this formed a better fit with their policies and was believed to stronger encourage healthy eating. They did worry about financial feasibility given lower affordability and student reluctance to accept the assortment. Students were less in favor of Scenario A. Students discussed getting value for money and remaining freedom to make unhealthy choices. The authors discuss implications for policy makers who aim to implement measures to improve young people’s eating habits.

This study contributes to the literature on creating healthier school food environments. This study uniquely examines a healthier school canteen from a viability perspective, including the views of students as primary customers. Given the need to progressively increase the number of foods complying to dietary guidelines in canteen assortments, this study provides insights into how and why assortment changes best can be implemented.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the location of fast-food outlets around secondary schools and the influence of fast-food availability on the food choices of school children in an inner-London borough.

A number of methods including: mapping of outlets relative to schools; sampling food; gathering data on secondary school food policies; observing food behaviour in fast food outlets and focus groups with young people. Findings were fed back to a committee consisting of representatives from nutrition, public health, planning services and local community groups.

There are concentrations of fast-food outlets near schools and students reported use of these, including “stories” of skipping lunch in order to save money and eat after school at these outlets. Food from fast-food outlets was high in fat, saturated fat and salt, but these are not the only source of high such foods, with many of the students reporting buying from shops near the school or on the way to or from school. At lunchtime food outlets were less likely to be used by school students in areas near schools that have a “closed gate” policy.

The “snapshot” nature of the research limited what can be said about the food behaviours of the children outside school hours.

The local policy context requires action to improve both the food offered in schools and the immediate environment around the school in order to tackle fast-food and other competitive foods on offer outside the school.

This is one of the first studies in the UK to systematically map fast food outlets around schools and explore what might be done. This research shows how it is possible to link the findings of local research and develop local responses from both public health and local authority planning perspectives. The research moves away from a mere documenting of problems to devising integrated public health solutions. The findings show how public health and planning services can work together to the mutual benefit of each other.

Availability and access to food is a determinant of obesity. The purpose of this paper is to examine food availability within and outside of post-primary schools in Ireland.

Data on the internal school food environment were collected from 63 post-primary schools using questionnaires. The external school food environment for these 63 schools was assessed by mapping food businesses within 1 km of schools, using a Geographic Information System (GIS). Food businesses were categorised based on type of food sold.

A total of 68.3 per cent of schools had a canteen, 52.5 per cent had a small food shop and 37.1 per cent had a vending machine. A total of 32.7 per cent of schools reported selling chips (French fries) in their canteen while 44.2 per cent of schools reported selling energy-dense nutrient-poor foods in their school shop. Of the schools surveyed, there was an average of 3.89 coffee shops and sandwich bars, 3.65 full service restaurants, 2.60 Asian and other “ethnic” restaurants, 4.03 fast food restaurants, 1.95 supermarkets, 6.71 local shops and 0.73 fruit and vegetable retailers within a 1 km radius of the post-primary schools. Findings are presented by geography (urban/rural), disadvantage (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in School (DEIS)/non DEIS), gender (girls/boys/mixed) and food policy in place at the school (yes/no).

These data will facilitate schools working on the framework for Health Promoting Schools in Ireland.

This work can contribute to current discussions on restricting accessibility to certain foods and food premises for school children.

The study explores the internal and external school food environment. GIS have been used to link the external food environment to specific schools thus allowing a comprehensive analysis of the schools’ food environment. To the authors knowledge, this is the first time that both environments are explored simultaneously.

A school canteen can serve as an important setting for nutrition and health promotion. The purpose of this paper is to describe secondary school students’ perceptions of Indian school canteens.

Convenience sampling informed the recruitment of 1,026 year 9 students from nine private schools in Kolkata, India, and data were collected through self-completion of paper-based questionnaires. Frequencies and χ² analyses were computed.

The school children reported that energy-dense, nutrient-poor foods like French fries (90.4 per cent), pizza (79.5 per cent) and cakes (69.2 per cent) were frequently available in the school canteens. However, only a few students (10.2 per cent) acknowledged the availability of nutritious foods like fruits. Only a small proportion of students were content with the nutritional quality of food supplied in the canteens (3.6 per cent), the cost of food (8.7 per cent) and availability of fresh foods like fruits (5.5 per cent). The provision of healthy foods in the school canteen was supported by two-thirds of the respondents (65.9 per cent); however, only a small proportion (18.3 per cent) supported the restriction of fried foods in school canteens.

These findings underscore the need for the design and implementation of healthy school canteen policies to foster healthy eating habits among Indian adolescents.

This is the first cross-sectional survey to investigate the views of adolescents regarding school food services in the Indian context.

Describes a campaign to help schools set up school‐based nutrition action groups (SNAGs) to galvanize change towards provision of healthier food on school premises. Highlights the current lack of coherence present in many schools between what is taught about nutrition in the classroom and the type of food available at school meals. Explains how local authorities, education authorities, schools, parents, caterers, children and other relevant parties can work together to form and implement a common policy. Describes how schools now have the powers to influence contracts with caterers, and how caterers can expect to increase the range and volume of their business by working more closely with schools and pupils.