Nutrient Quality of Ready-to-Eat Meals from School Canteens and Vendors: Insight into the School Food Environment

Abstrak

The school food environment, which offers limited healthy food options, contributes to the rising prevalence of overweight among adolescents in Indonesia. Various efforts have been made to improve nutritional status, including the school meal programs. However, there have been no targeted efforts to regulate food, especially the Ready-to-Eat (RTE) meals within the school environment, particularly in urban areas where the overweight prevalence among adolescent is increasing. Up to present time, there is no adequate information provided for adolescent regarding to the nutrition quality of RTE meals at school which could be potential to increase the knowledge and improve their food choice.  This study aimed to analyze the nutritional quality of ready-to-eat meals (RTE) sold in school canteens and vendors in Jakarta as evidence to provide information about nutrient quality of RTE meals. In-depth interviews to explore the food recipe were conducted with food vendors from selected schools in urban and peri-urban areas. Nutrient content analysis per portion was calculated using the Indonesian Food Composition Table, based on collected recipes. Foods were categorized into snacks, one-dish meals, full meals, beverages, and side dishes. Nutrient quality was identified using Nutrient-Rich Food (NRF) index. Results showed that beverages contribute the highest sugar content with the lowest nutritional value, while one-dish provide highest sodium, and full meals are dominated by high carbohydrate, fat, and calorie content. Across all meal categories, the intake of fiber, iron, calcium, vitamin A, and vitamin C is far below recommendation. Moreover, both one-dish and full meals fail to meet protein recommendation level.