National school food standards in England: a cross-sectional study to explore compliance in secondary schools and impact on pupil nutritional intake

Miranda Pallan; Marie Murphy; Breanna Morrison; Alice Sitch; Ashley Adamson; Suzanne Bartington; Alexandra Dobell; Rhona Duff; Emma Frew; Tania Griffin; Kiya Hurley; Emma Lancashire; Louise McLeman; Sandra Passmore; Irina Pokhilenko; Maisie Rowland; Vahid Ravaghi; Suzanne Spence; Peymane Adab

doi:10.1186/s12966-024-01672-w

National school food standards in England: a cross-sectional study to explore compliance in secondary schools and impact on pupil nutritional intake

Miranda Pallan, Marie Murphy, Breanna Morrison, Alice Sitch, Ashley Adamson, Suzanne Bartington, Alexandra Dobell, Rhona Duff, Emma Frew, Tania Griffin, Kiya Hurley, Emma Lancashire, Louise McLeman, Sandra Passmore, Irina Pokhilenko, Maisie Rowland, Vahid Ravaghi, Suzanne Spence, Peymane Adab

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Background: Many countries have introduced school food standards to improve the dietary intakes of school-aged children. England has school food standards (SFS) legislation in place but little is known about how well secondary schools comply with this. We aimed to assess compliance with the SFS legislation in English secondary schools and explore the impact of the SFS on pupils’ nutritional intake. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study with English secondary schools from 2019 to 2022. We compared SFS compliance and pupil nutritional intake in schools mandated or not mandated to comply with the SFS legislation, and explored the association between school compliance and pupil nutritional intake. We assessed the percentage of SFS (%SFS) complied with by reviewing school food menus and observing food served in school canteens. We assessed pupil nutritional intake using a 24-hour dietary recall measure (Intake24) and estimated intakes of free sugar (primary outcome) and other nutrients/foods. We used adjusted multilevel models to compare pupil intakes in the SFS-mandated and SFS-non-mandated schools, and to explore the association between school SFS compliance and pupil intakes. Results: 36 schools (23 not mandated and 13 mandated to comply with the SFS) and 2,273 pupils participated. The median %SFS complied with was 63.9% (interquartile range 60.0–70.0%). This was similar for SFS-non-mandated (64.5%) and SFS-mandated schools (63.3%). Compliance was highest for standards applying to lunchtime (median = 81.3%) and lowest for those applying across the whole school day (median = 41.7%). It was also lower for standards restricting high fat, sugar and energy-dense items (median = 26.1%) than for standards aiming to increase dietary variety (median = 92.3%). Pupils from SFS-mandated schools had a lower mean lunchtime intake of free sugar (g) (adjusted mean difference: -2.78g; 95% CI: -4.66g to -0.90g). There were few significant associations between %SFS complied with and pupil nutritional intake. Conclusions: English secondary schools do not fully comply with SFS legislation regardless of whether they are mandated to comply. Schools and caterers may require monitoring and support to fully comply. There is little evidence that SFS compliance is associated with better pupil nutritional intake. Food environments outside of school also need to be considered. Study registration: ISRCTN68757496 (17-10-2019).

Original language	English
Article number	123
Journal	International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity
Volume	21
Issue number	1
Early online date	24 Oct 2024
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1186/s12966-024-01672-w
Publication status	E-pub ahead of print - 24 Oct 2024

Data Availability Statement

The datasets used during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Acknowledgements

We thank the young people, parents, schools, school staff and governors who participated in the study, the young people who served as youth advisors, and the NIHR Clinical Research Network-West Midlands Young Research Champions Group facilitators for supporting the youth public engagement activities. We also thank members of the parent and school staff advisory groups. We acknowledge: the administrative and research staff who contributed to the study (David Alexander, Katie Youngwood, Frances Mason, Daniel Mensah, Estera Sevel, Florence Edwards, Ankita Gupta, Anisah Ali, Lucy Carver, Natalie Quinn-Walker, James Bhol, and Prajakta Gandhi); the university students and sessional staff workers who supported data collection; Ivan Poliakov for providing technical support; and Scott Wheeldon for his advisory role in the study. Finally, we thank members of the external Study Steering Committee: Robert West (University of Leeds; Chair); Christopher Owen (St. George’s, University of London); Alexander Turner (Putnam PHMR Ltd); Helen Carter (public health consultant; Public Health England, West Midlands; Steering Committee member until January 2021); Sheila Birdi (public representative until January 2020); Ann Hughes (public representative; January 2020 – September 2021) and Clare Madden (public representative; September 2021-October 2022).

Keywords

Adolescents
Food
Nutrition
Schools

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Medicine (miscellaneous)
Physical Therapy, Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation
Nutrition and Dietetics

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Cite this

Pallan, M., Murphy, M., Morrison, B., Sitch, A., Adamson, A., Bartington, S., Dobell, A., Duff, R., Frew, E., Griffin, T., Hurley, K., Lancashire, E., McLeman, L., Passmore, S., Pokhilenko, I., Rowland, M., Ravaghi, V., Spence, S., & Adab, P. (2024). National school food standards in England: a cross-sectional study to explore compliance in secondary schools and impact on pupil nutritional intake. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 21(1), Article 123. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12966-024-01672-w

National school food standards in England: a cross-sectional study to explore compliance in secondary schools and impact on pupil nutritional intake. / Pallan, Miranda; Murphy, Marie; Morrison, Breanna et al.
In: International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, Vol. 21, No. 1, 123, 31.12.2024.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Pallan, M, Murphy, M, Morrison, B, Sitch, A, Adamson, A, Bartington, S, Dobell, A, Duff, R, Frew, E, Griffin, T, Hurley, K, Lancashire, E, McLeman, L, Passmore, S, Pokhilenko, I, Rowland, M, Ravaghi, V, Spence, S & Adab, P 2024, 'National school food standards in England: a cross-sectional study to explore compliance in secondary schools and impact on pupil nutritional intake', International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, vol. 21, no. 1, 123. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12966-024-01672-w

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abstract = "Background: Many countries have introduced school food standards to improve the dietary intakes of school-aged children. England has school food standards (SFS) legislation in place but little is known about how well secondary schools comply with this. We aimed to assess compliance with the SFS legislation in English secondary schools and explore the impact of the SFS on pupils{\textquoteright} nutritional intake. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study with English secondary schools from 2019 to 2022. We compared SFS compliance and pupil nutritional intake in schools mandated or not mandated to comply with the SFS legislation, and explored the association between school compliance and pupil nutritional intake. We assessed the percentage of SFS (%SFS) complied with by reviewing school food menus and observing food served in school canteens. We assessed pupil nutritional intake using a 24-hour dietary recall measure (Intake24) and estimated intakes of free sugar (primary outcome) and other nutrients/foods. We used adjusted multilevel models to compare pupil intakes in the SFS-mandated and SFS-non-mandated schools, and to explore the association between school SFS compliance and pupil intakes. Results: 36 schools (23 not mandated and 13 mandated to comply with the SFS) and 2,273 pupils participated. The median %SFS complied with was 63.9% (interquartile range 60.0–70.0%). This was similar for SFS-non-mandated (64.5%) and SFS-mandated schools (63.3%). Compliance was highest for standards applying to lunchtime (median = 81.3%) and lowest for those applying across the whole school day (median = 41.7%). It was also lower for standards restricting high fat, sugar and energy-dense items (median = 26.1%) than for standards aiming to increase dietary variety (median = 92.3%). Pupils from SFS-mandated schools had a lower mean lunchtime intake of free sugar (g) (adjusted mean difference: -2.78g; 95% CI: -4.66g to -0.90g). There were few significant associations between %SFS complied with and pupil nutritional intake. Conclusions: English secondary schools do not fully comply with SFS legislation regardless of whether they are mandated to comply. Schools and caterers may require monitoring and support to fully comply. There is little evidence that SFS compliance is associated with better pupil nutritional intake. Food environments outside of school also need to be considered. Study registration: ISRCTN68757496 (17-10-2019).",

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AU - Morrison, Breanna

AU - Sitch, Alice

AU - Adamson, Ashley

AU - Bartington, Suzanne

AU - Dobell, Alexandra

AU - Duff, Rhona

AU - Frew, Emma

AU - Griffin, Tania

AU - Hurley, Kiya

AU - Lancashire, Emma

AU - McLeman, Louise

AU - Passmore, Sandra

AU - Pokhilenko, Irina

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AB - Background: Many countries have introduced school food standards to improve the dietary intakes of school-aged children. England has school food standards (SFS) legislation in place but little is known about how well secondary schools comply with this. We aimed to assess compliance with the SFS legislation in English secondary schools and explore the impact of the SFS on pupils’ nutritional intake. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study with English secondary schools from 2019 to 2022. We compared SFS compliance and pupil nutritional intake in schools mandated or not mandated to comply with the SFS legislation, and explored the association between school compliance and pupil nutritional intake. We assessed the percentage of SFS (%SFS) complied with by reviewing school food menus and observing food served in school canteens. We assessed pupil nutritional intake using a 24-hour dietary recall measure (Intake24) and estimated intakes of free sugar (primary outcome) and other nutrients/foods. We used adjusted multilevel models to compare pupil intakes in the SFS-mandated and SFS-non-mandated schools, and to explore the association between school SFS compliance and pupil intakes. Results: 36 schools (23 not mandated and 13 mandated to comply with the SFS) and 2,273 pupils participated. The median %SFS complied with was 63.9% (interquartile range 60.0–70.0%). This was similar for SFS-non-mandated (64.5%) and SFS-mandated schools (63.3%). Compliance was highest for standards applying to lunchtime (median = 81.3%) and lowest for those applying across the whole school day (median = 41.7%). It was also lower for standards restricting high fat, sugar and energy-dense items (median = 26.1%) than for standards aiming to increase dietary variety (median = 92.3%). Pupils from SFS-mandated schools had a lower mean lunchtime intake of free sugar (g) (adjusted mean difference: -2.78g; 95% CI: -4.66g to -0.90g). There were few significant associations between %SFS complied with and pupil nutritional intake. Conclusions: English secondary schools do not fully comply with SFS legislation regardless of whether they are mandated to comply. Schools and caterers may require monitoring and support to fully comply. There is little evidence that SFS compliance is associated with better pupil nutritional intake. Food environments outside of school also need to be considered. Study registration: ISRCTN68757496 (17-10-2019).

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National school food standards in England: a cross-sectional study to explore compliance in secondary schools and impact on pupil nutritional intake

Abstract

Data Availability Statement

Acknowledgements

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

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