Facts: Special diets and adapted meals
Special diet is diet that is adapted to a certain disease state and refers to medically justified deviations from the normal diet.
Adapted meals mean the deviations from the standard diet that are considered necessary for the child/pupil to complete their course of study at school or stay in preschool. Some examples are the exclusion of certain foods due to religion, the choice to eat vegan and various adaptations of food and/or mealtime environment due to neuropsychiatric impairments.
Source: Industry organization Diet and nutrition
Gluten-free, lactose-free and vegan food – the variations on the school lunch plate are many. An estimated 20 percent of children in schools and preschools today receive special diets or adapted meals. The adjusted meals linked to neuropsychiatric diagnoses increase the most.
Kost och näring, a trade association within the trade union Ledarna, is now coming up with new recommendations regarding special diets and customized meals in preschools and schools. The idea is that they should help children get the special diet they are entitled to and that foods should not be excluded unnecessarily, according to Åsa Kullberg, one of the members of the Diet and nutrition focus group Preschool and school.
— It’s quite tough as a chef to work with special diets, because if a child gets the wrong food, it can in the worst case be fatal. It is a huge responsibility and then you want to have as good a basis for decision-making as possible, she says.
She adds that it is only a recommendation.
— But by following it, you also get a form of equal treatment between the municipalities.
Vegan goes well
In the new recommendations, a previous advice against offering vegan food to smaller children has been removed. Diet and nutrition believes, based on the Swedish Food Agency’s guidelines, that there are now enough good nutritional supplements for smaller children to counteract a lack of vitamin B12, which is mainly found in animal products.
— But we put in a small passage that vegan may not suit all individuals. If I have a huge energy or nutritional need, insufficient growth, food allergies or don’t eat that varied, it can be difficult to get enough on a vegan diet.
According to Åsa Kullberg, it is therefore important to have a good dialogue with the parents about how the child eats at home.
Unusual allergies
The industry organization has also produced advice on controversial and unusual allergies, such as meat allergy and leguminous plant allergy. Among other things, so that chefs and meal managers know that there are three different types of meat allergy and that all meat does not need to be excluded.
— We want to try to reduce things being removed unnecessarily, for the sake of the children. Because children want to be like their friends and prefer to eat like everyone else.
In addition, the recommendation for how much lactose a food portion can contain without the need for a special diet for lactose-intolerant children is being raised from two grams to three grams.
— One gram sounds a bit silly, but it does quite a lot. You can eat most things, but perhaps have to be careful with pancakes, rice porridge and very milk-rich dishes.
Fewer are expected to need special diets
In the past, many municipalities have completely excluded lactose in case of intolerance, although it is very unusual to not tolerate any lactose at all, according to Åsa Kullberg.
In Linköping, where she is meal manager, for a while there was 60 percent wastage of the lactose-free diet because the students themselves knew they could eat a certain amount of lactose. When Diet and Nutrition 2020 recommended a lactose limit of two grams, it led to 800 students who had previously received special diets being able to eat regular food.
The new recommendation of three grams of lactose per serving is expected to contribute to a significant reduction in special diets, which in turn can lead to better use of resources, according to the trade association.