List of Measures to Support Elementary Schools in Optimizing Their Meal Programs
Eine Health-promoting school meals contribute significantly to children’s well-being, ability to concentrate, and healthy development. However, schools and school administrators face a variety of challenges when it comes to creating appealing and needs-based meal options: from choosing the right type of meal service and designing a healthy and affordable selection of food and beverages to involving all stakeholders. For this reason, a support program for elementary schools aimed at optimizing communal meal services should be developed and tested.
As part of the “Eat Right from the Start!” (REVAN) initiative, a List of Measures to Support Elementary Schools in Optimizing Their Meal Programs was first developed. It served as the basis for a pilot project by the Austrian Health Insurance Fund (ÖGK) that was implemented between 2021 and 2024. The catalog of measures describes essential and optional measures or supporting elementary schools, without addressing state-specific requirements. The technical basis is provided by national recommendations for institutional food service, as well as corresponding guidelines and criteria from the pilot federal states, where these set stricter or more specific requirements. The focus is on a participatory approachin which all relevant stakeholders within the school setting are actively involved. With the publication of the catalog of measures, the developed content is now intended to be made accessible to other stakeholders in the field of school food service.
