School lunches are important

During the week, children get a third of their daily food intake at school. What they eat during school hours has a significant impact on their health.

Australian children have much higher rates of obesity than children in countries with healthy lunch programs.

As children’s diets affect physical and cognitive development, as well as mental health, a poor diet can also impact academic performance.

International research shows universal school meal programs – where all children are provided with a healthy meal at school each day – can improve both health and educational outcomes for students.

The problem with BYO lunchboxes

In Australia, children either bring a packed lunch or buy food at the school canteen. But the vast majority of these lunches don’t meet kids’ dietary needs.

As a 2022 Flinders University report notes, more than 80% of Australian primary school lunches are of poor nutritional quality. Half of students’ school-day food intake comes from junk food, and fewer than one in ten students eat enough vegetables.

While these figures are based on 2011–2012 data, subsequent national survey data do not show significant improvements in children’s healthy diet indicators, including fruit and vegetable consumption. Time pressures on carers mean pre-packaged food can be a default lunchbox choice.

At the same time, many families with school-age children are unable to provide their children with healthy lunches. Food insecurity — not having regular access to enough safe, healthy and affordable food — affects an estimated 58% of Australian households with children, and 69% of single-parent households.

Hot weather also raises food safety concerns, as it’s hard to keep fresh food cool in school bags.

School meals programs in Australia

There are some historical examples of providing food to children at school in Australia. This includes the school milk program, which ran from the 1950s to the 1970s. There were also wartime experiments in the 1940s. For example, the Oslo lunch (a cheese and salad sandwich on wholemeal bread, with milk and fruit) was provided at school to improve the health of children.

Today, there is a patchwork of school food programs run by not-for-profit organisations providing breakfast and/or lunch, as well as various schemes, including kitchen garden and school greenhouse programs.

There are also pilot schemes providing hot meals. For example, in Tasmania, the current pilot school lunch program provides children in participating schools with a hot lunch on certain days of the week, supported by the state government. Evaluation of the program showed strong benefits: healthier eating, calmer classrooms, better social connections from eating lunch together, and less food waste.

The 2023 parliamentary inquiry into food security recommended the federal government work with states and territories to consider the feasibility of a school meals program.

In May, the South Australian parliament opened an inquiry into programs in preschools and schools to ensure children and young people don’t go hungry during the day.

What would it take to introduce school meals?

Rolling out universal school meal programs across Australian schools would require cooperation between the government and the private sector.

It could build on what already exists – including canteens, school gardens, food relief and breakfast clubs – to create a more consistent and inclusive system.

There’s a strong evidence base to guide this, both from Australian pilot programs and international examples.

Decisions would need to be made regarding regulation and funding – whether to opt for a federally funded and regulated scheme with federal and state cooperation, or a state-by-state approach.

Funding mechanisms from international models include fully government-funded, caregiver-paid (but with subsidies for disadvantaged families) and cost-sharing arrangements between the government and families.

The daily costs per child are approximately A$10, taking into account economies of scale. Some pilot programs report lower costs of around $5, but involve volunteer labour.

More research is needed to determine the attitudes of parents and communities and to model these funding options, including preventive health benefits.

Delivery models may also vary depending on each school’s size, location and infrastructure. This could include onsite food preparation, central kitchens delivering pre-prepared meals, or partnerships with not-for-profit providers.

Ultimately, providing food at school could save parents valuable time and stress, and ensure all Australian students can access the health and education benefits of a nutritious school meal.

Liesel Spencer, Associate Professor, School of Law, Western Sydney University; Katherine Kent, Senior Lecturer in Nutrition and Dietetics, University of Wollongong, and Miriam Williams, Senior Lecturer, Macquarie School of Social Sciences, Macquarie University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.