Policy Recommendations on School Food and Nutrition from Global Organizations and the Policy and Practice in Thailand
Keywords:
food and nutrition, school, policy recommendationsAbstract
This study aimed to review the school food and nutrition (SFN) policy recommendations from international organizations and the SFN policy and practice in Thailand. Policy documents were collected from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and related organizations in Thailand such as ministries of education, public health, agriculture and cooperatives, and Thai Health Promotion Foundation. Documents were analyzed based on the SFN framework, consisting of four key components; 1) healthy food environment and school food, 2) food and nutrition education, 3) inclusive procurement and value chain, 4) enabling policy, legal and institutional environment. Forty-two policy recommendations have been suggested, such as the development of a national strategy for food and nutrition in school, control of unhealthy food marketing, supporting use of local food produce for school meals, encouraging community engagement, promoting food and nutrition role models among teachers, and management of conflict of interest among involved stakeholders. Thailand has followed 34 out of 42 recommendations, such as, free school lunch, child nutritional standard, Thai School Lunch program for sustainable provision of school food, and other food and nutritional promotion programs in school. However, future SFN policies should be developed on the food/nutritional literacy among school children, teachers, and parents, conflict of interest management among involved stakeholders, and the health promotion in particular food and nutrition for all personnel in schools. Furthermore, existing SFN policies need to be strengthened, for instance, the inclusive school lunch, law and regulation to control unhealthy food marketing in school, and SFN policy monitoring and evaluation. The present study of international recommendations should be further used to guide the future SFN policy and practice in Thailand.
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