School canteens: there should be 3 vegetarian meals a week, according to researchers

Scientists from the National Research Institute for Food and the Environment have demonstrated how to maintain nutritional balance while reducing the carbon footprint of school meals: implement 3 vegetarian meals per week.

A precise mathematical model

Developed in collaboration with University Enterprise MS-Nutritionthe algorithm sifted through no less than 17 scenarios, drawing on a database of 2,316 school dishes.

The nutritional quality of the meal series was assessed on the basis of the Average Nutritional Adequacy (ANM) score for 2000 calories.

The environmental impact was measured by several indicators: greenhouse gas emissions, acidification potential on terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems, use of water and fossil resources, etc.

According to their results published in theEuropean Journal of Nutrition, eating three vegetarian meals a week would be the best option to achieve this balance. The other two midday meals may contain “lwhite meat or fish”, specified the researchers.

Reform school catering

Their estimates follow the same line (while going further) than the law Egalim (law for the balance of trade relations in the agricultural and food sector and healthy, sustainable and accessible food for all, editor’s note), introduced in 2019. It includes the obligation to serve one vegetarian dish per week in all school canteens.

“Increasing the frequency of vegetarian meals to 12 meals out of 20 and serving fish and white meats at other meals seems to be the best compromise to halve emissions from school meals while maintaining their good nutritional quality.“, said the authors of the study.

An option that would therefore involve avoiding red meat as much as possible.

“Reforming school catering in this direction would have an impact that it is important to examine on food systems, considering in particular all the actors in the public procurement supply chains.“, argued the researchers.