Children across Europe must receive at least one nutritious school meal a day if governments want to tackle rising obesity rates, prevent chronic illnesses and reduce social inequalities, according to a coalition of experts.
Nearly a third of primary school-age children in Europe are either overweight or obese, while almost a quarter of children in the EU are at risk of poverty or social exclusion.
With the cost of living crisis now stretching many families on the continent beyond breaking point, members of a four-year EU-funded initiative, focused on healthy eating, say action is urgently needed to ensure all European children can rely on at least one healthy meal every day.
Peter Defranceschi, a member of the SchoolFood4Change project, said: “I think that once you say that every child needs to get a healthy school meal every day – whether they’re, rich, poor, in a deprived neighbourhood or wherever – that’s a minimum standard that would make quite a lot of sense in Europe.
“It’s not left or right, or liberal or green, it’s really just a smart thing to do.”
The experts, who say that school meals can be “catalysts for systemic change on a broad societal level”, are working with more than 3,000 schools and 600,000 schoolchildren in 16 cities and regions across 12 EU countries.
