Vegetables daily. Fruit and berries regularly. Fish twice a week. Legumes at least three times. And potatoes must alternate with cereal and legume dishes.

A school menu is not a random list of dishes, nor a matter of what the kitchen decided to cook today. Behind it are specific norms: which food groups children must receive, how often they must appear in the diet, and how large a portion should be at each age, Derzhprodspozhyvsluzhba (the State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection) reports.

Derzhprodspozhyvsluzhba is continuing its information campaign «School meals: safety every day». This time it looks straight into the pupil’s plate and explains what a varied, balanced menu means in practice.

Key points:

  • Under Cabinet of Ministers resolution No. 305, children on a five-day stay get 15 portions of vegetables and 10 portions of fruit and berries a week.
  • Legumes at least three times a week; potatoes alternate with cereal, grain, and legume dishes.
  • Fish twice a week, poultry six times, pork, veal or beef three times, eggs three times.
  • Lunch should supply 30–35% of daily energy needs: 630–945 kcal depending on age.
  • Added sugars in prepared dishes: no more than 5 g per 100 g/ml; the menu is judged over the whole weekly cycle.

Not one «right» dish, but a varied diet

A single plate cannot show how balanced a child’s diet is. That is why menus are planned in a cycle: dishes in the sample four-week seasonal menu rotate according to set consumption norms for the main food groups.

For general secondary schools with a five-day stay, Cabinet of Ministers resolution No. 305 sets separate norms for breakfast, lunch and dinner. They cover not just the list of foods but how often they appear and portion weights for children aged 6–11, 11–14 and 14–18.

Vegetables — every day

Vegetables should be varied and seasonal — fresh, frozen or fermented — but potatoes do not count in this group. 

For breakfast, lunch and dinner on a five-day stay, 15 portions of vegetables a week are required, one at each of those meals every day. A portion weighs 100 g for ages 6–11 and 120 g for ages 11–14 and 14–18. 

Vegetables on a pupil’s plate are therefore not a side item but a systemic part of the diet.

Fruit and berries are part of the daily menu too

Fresh or frozen fruit and berries are provided daily at breakfast or dinner, and at lunch: 10 portions a week on a five-day stay, 100 g each regardless of age group. 

Juice, by contrast, is no daily replacement for fruit: the resolution allows it twice a week at 200 ml, and only juice with no added sugars or sweeteners.

Cereals, grains and legumes daily; legumes at least three times a week

Cereals, grains and legumes should alternate with potato dishes, with preference for porridges and pasta higher in dietary fibre. 

Legumes must be offered at least three times a week, and 15 portions of cereals, grains and legumes are required across breakfasts, lunches and dinners. 

Potatoes must not become the universal daily side dish: the rule is one potato dish for every four to five dishes of cereals, grains or legumes.

Fish — twice a week

Various types of sea fish are required twice a week at breakfast, lunch or dinner. 

Here, age matters clearly. Fish portions weigh:

  • 60 g for ages 6–11;
  • 90 g for ages 11–14;
  • 120 g for ages 14–18.

The same dish does not mean the same portion for a first-grader and a high-schooler.

Meat dishes have their own frequency

On a five-day stay, poultry is required six times a week: five portions at breakfast or dinner and one at lunch. 

Pork, veal or beef come three times a week at lunch, and only lean cuts — under 15 g of fat per 100 g of meat.

Eggs — three times a week

For all three age groups, a portion is one egg, served at breakfast, lunch or dinner three times a week, cooked until fully done.

Lunch has its own share of the daily diet

Balance is not only a set of foods; it is also how much energy a child gets at each meal. 

If a child has lunch, it should supply 30–35% of daily energy needs. 

Approximate lunch energy values:

  • ages 6–11 — 630–735 kcal;
  • ages 11–14 — 720–840 kcal;
  • ages 14–18 — 810–945 kcal.

These figures show that a schoolchild’s diet changes with age and the body’s needs.

Less sugar is part of the norm too

Sugar content in foods used to prepare ready meals is capped at no more than 10 g per 100 g/ml of product, and added sugars in dishes and products must not exceed 5 g per 100 g/ml of the finished dish. 

School meals are therefore not just about what to give a child, but in what composition and proportion.

A balanced menu is a system

A balanced school menu is not one «healthy» dish. It is a system: vegetables and fruit → cereals and legumes → fish and meat → eggs → proper rotation → portions matched to age.

Variety must not be random. If a child was not served fish or a particular meat dish today, that does not by itself break the norms; the whole weekly cycle should be assessed — how foods rotate and whether the set frequency is kept. 

Different meal regimes have different norms, so figures should not be mechanically carried over from one regime to another.

When judging a school menu, look not only at today’s plate but at the whole diet: what children receive, how often foods rotate and whether they meet the set norms. 

In its next material, the campaign will explain why a pupil’s portion depends on age and how a first-grader’s needs differ from a high-schooler’s.

More detail is on the service’s official web portal at this link.

Source: Derzhprodspozhyvsluzhba