Abstract: School going age is one of the best stages of life cycle to cultivate good dietary habits. Nowadays children have fewer opportunities to get nutritionallybalance meals at school canteen and it may affect their nutritional status. Hence improving the quality of food in school canteens is important. To address this issue, this study was carried out to develop nutritious, low cost menus for school children.
Food policy for school in Sri Lanka was reviewed and existing food menus were analysed. Five new menus were developed by modifying available menus and incorporating nutritious, locally available food ingredients. Hundred grams of developed menus contained energy and macro nutrients were analysed by using food composition database and Nutrient Quality Index (NQI) scores. One serving was considered as 200kcal energy giving portion of each menu. Acceptance of the developed menus by the school children was determined by using food quality measuring scale.
All five developed menus were made with low cost locally available ingredients to increase the affordability for the foods. All five menus could be developed with nutrient adequacy for school children according to the nutrient density score. The sensory evaluation result showed that children acceptance for the menus is different and bread pizza was the most acceptable menu.
Since the developed menus for school children are nutritionally balanced and cheap they may appropriate for improving the quality of dietary intake and nutritional status of school children.
Keywords: School children, nutritionally balanced, acceptance, low cost, food menus.
Title: Nutritious, low Cost, attractive menus for School Children
Author: Hasinthi Swarnamali, Thilini N. Jayasinghe
International Journal of Healthcare Sciences
ISSN 2348-5728 (Online)
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