Nutrient-rich school meals
Print date: 21 March 2025 13:58
Description of the innovative solution
As economies develop and children eat more meals at school, meal programmes struggle to provide nutrient-rich foods that are affordable and desirable for local communities. There is a need to provide nutrient-rich foods in school meal programmes in order to maximize physical and intellectual development of youth. This innovation includes introducing and scaling up the provision of locally sourced nutrient-rich foods during school feeding programs. The use of small fish as a nutrient-rich animal sourced food is an option as fish provide a combination of essential nutrients not found in other foods. Nutrients could also be delivered in the form of a tasty nutrient-rich power drink, which is more acceptable to children, instead of fish as a meal ingredient.
Supply chain segment
Maturity level
Criteria
SDG target
Context
Examples and additional resources
Real-world examples
See this solution in action in different contexts and settings around the world
Additional resources
Learn more about this solution through studies, articles, business cases, and other information
FAO School Food and Nutrition Framework
areas of work in school food and nutrition that represent FAO’s comparative advantage.
Impacts of school feeding on educational and health outcomes of school-age children and adolescents in low- and middle-income countries
Contacts
Connect to others working on and with this solution around the world
melissa.vargas@fao.org