New nutrition standards in kindergartens, schools and children's camps

New nutrition standards in kindergartens, schools and children's camps

From September 1, 2021, Cabinet Decree No. 305 on new nutritional standards in educational institutions and children's health and recreation institutions comes into force.

It applies to:

institutions of preschool education institutions of general secondary education and other educational institutions that carry out educational activities at a separate level (or levels) of complete general secondary education children's health and recreation institutions

According to the new rules, the energy and nutritional value of food must correspond to the general age needs of children in accordance with the norms of physiological needs determined by the Ministry of Health.

Planning the calorie content of food depends on the mode (multiplicity) of food in the institution:

if children consume only breakfast - calorie content should be 25-30% of the daily requirement for lunch, the corresponding share increases to 30-35%

Also, confectionery products were excluded from the diet, because they contain a large amount of sugar and trans fats. The new regulations limit the consumption of juices due to their high sugar content.

The new norms did not include canned food (meat, fish, vegetables) due to the high salt content and the possible presence of preservatives, and the consumption of bread and potatoes was reduced. But the new norms provide for an increase in the consumption of milk and dairy products , cereals, and legumes.

In addition, the norms do not provide for the possibility of replacing food products: the Ministry of Health believes that for a balanced diet for children there must be a complete set of products, which makes it impossible to replace one product with another.

All the details of the government-proposed diet for children, food calorie tables, a list of recommended foods and rules for allergy sufferers can be found in the relevant resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers.

However, due to “objective difficulties with the organization of food procurement”, the Ministry of Health, together with the Ministry of Education, has established a transitional period for the introduction of new nutritional standards - from September 1, 2021 to January 1, 2022.

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