How do you eat in Italian school canteens? The new annual FoodInsider survey, which examined both the environmental impact and the type of food served to students in our country, provides an uneasy picture.
In particular, the survey assessed the balance and the impact on the environment of about fifty Italian school menus representing approximately 28% of the school catering panorama at national level. In addition, the system of the Points Menu questionnaire developed by the ASL2 of Milan was adopted.
The results were presented in recent days during a press conference in the Chamber of Deputies. According to what emerged from the “6th Rating of foodinsider school menus”, there are several bad news that certainly won't please parents.
More packaged foods and red meat
The first, in our opinion, also in terms of importance is this: more and more menus offer processed foods, such as preserved meats, (which the WHO classifies in group 1 of 'definitely carcinogenic' foods) and ultra- processed (which FAO classifies in group 4 including "croquettes" and "sticks", sausages, hamburgers, hot dogs and other reconstituted meat products; and soups, packaged desserts). Last year, the percentage of such foods in canteens was 75,5%, this year it is 81,5%.
For Foodinsider, this is a fact that goes hand in hand with the increase in the frequency of red meats. At the top of this not very laudable ranking we find Terni which holds the record of 10 proposals over 20 days of canteen.
In the name of speed, quality is also renounced. And that's how we come to another bad news. According to the analysis, school canteens are increasingly resorting to quick dishes that aim to satiate, such as plain pasta, pizza, sticks, hamburgers, croquettes, spreadable cheese, yogurt and pudding.
We continue to find unbalanced menus with high-protein meals given by the sum of several proteins, vegetables and animals such as: pasta and beans, omelette and peas (Grosseto) or pasta and chickpeas, turkey rollé and prosciuttati peas (Lecce) that offer a meal which goes way beyond the recommended nutritional value for children.
Attention to the environment is also decreasing
The bad news isn't over yet. Compared to the previous edition, the canteens that serve meals with washable dishes are down, passing from 65% to 59%. In other words, despite the proclamations and awareness-raising initiatives, this translates into a greater use of disposable products. Disposable that recently ended up in the crosshairs of an investigation by Il Salvagente on the alleged presence of PFAS.
This is the canteen that parents could not see because the Covid alibi kept them out of inspections: only 7,9% of our panel of parents said they were able to do inspections regularly, 17% only a few inspections, and 75,1% were not allowed to enter the school to carry out the inspection activity.
According to Claudia Paltrinieri, President of FoodInsier,
The gap between the resilient canteen is widening which, despite the organizational difficulties due to the consumption of the meal in the classroom, has invested to improve or maintain a high quality standard of service, compared to those canteens where the service is comparable to a sort of "fast food" at school ”, where he took advantage of taking this summer's indication of 'simplification' of the meal literally, even going so far as to suspend the administration of water.
The best Italian school canteens
The Foodinsider survey, however, also focused on virtuous realities, also identifying the best school canteens, which have understood and put into practice their true spirit, that of not satisfying but of nourishing, educating, creating economic and social development in respect of the environment.
Among these virtuous canteens we find on the podium Fano, Cremona and Parma with equal merit in second place and, to follow, Jesi. The canteens of these municipalities have distinguished themselves
for the biodiversity of the dishes, for the balance of the diet, the ability to elaborate recipes and the quality of raw materials, mostly organic.
Following. in the top ten we find Rimini, Trento and also Bologna and Ancona. Here is the complete ranking of the best Italian school canteens:
@FoodInsider
Sources of reference: FoodInsider
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