Grau de processamento de alimentos e ingredientes utilizados no preparo da alimentação escolar na rede pública de ensino fundamental de Maceió-AL

Abstract

School meals are the right of basic education students and the duty of the State. In this context, the National School Feeding Program (PNAE) aims at transferring resources destined to the supply of food to students enrolled in public schools, of all basic stages, during the period of classes, in order to contribute to the development, learning , school performance and the formation of healthy eating habits of the children served by the program. As a way of ensuring health promotion within schools through school feeding and including policies for adequate food and nutrition within the school environment, it is necessary to verify the application of the guidelines proposed in the national food and nutrition policy and the recommendations of the food guide for the Brazilian population. Therefore, this research aimed to classify, according to the degree of processing, the foods and ingredients used in the preparation of school meals in the public elementary school in Maceió-AL. This is a cross-sectional, observational study carried out in 13 public elementary schools in Maceió, Alagoas. For analysis, the coordination of the Nutrition and Nutritional Food Sector (SANE) of the Municipal Education Secretariat (SEMED) was requested, the menus, the respective Technical Preparation Sheets (FTP) and later visits were made to the schools to track the food in stock.Then, these foods and / or ingredients were also classified into: group 1, fresh or minimally processed; group 2, processed culinary ingredients; group 3, processed; group 4, ultra-processed. The foods and ingredients found in the stock were compared with those listed in the FTP of the preparations described in the proposed menu for the month that the data was collected at the school. This analysis was carried out in an observational manner and from this it was possible to indicate whether the schools were fulfilling the menu planned by SANE/SEMED. Categorical variables were presented as absolute frequencies and percentages. In all schools evaluated, group 1 foods prevailed over processed and ultra-processed foods, varying between 39% and 76% of food in stock. The group 2 foods appeared subsequently, varying between 12% and 29%. Soon after, group 4 foods were seen varying between 7% and 33%. The foods that were found in the least amount in all schools were those in group 3, varying between 3% and 6% in prevalence. Despite the fact that ultra-processed foods / ingredients are still present on the menus offered, fresh or minimally processed foods stood out, with a greater quantity in all schools evaluated. From the analysis of the food and ingredients present in the stocks, it was possible to identify that some of these did not appear in the FTP of the preparations included in the menu in the month of data collection, thus indicating that the schools did not fully comply with the proposed menu.