Only 60% of nations regulate school food standard, says UNESCO report

A new report from UNESCO’s Global Education Monitoring (GEM) team paints a troubling picture of school food regulations worldwide, revealing that just 60% of countries have set any kind of legal or policy standards for what children eat and drink in school.

The findings raise fresh concerns about the global commitment to promoting student health and nutrition.

Developed in partnership with the Research Consortium for School Health and Nutrition and supported by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine through the School Meals Coalition, the GEM report highlights large gaps in policy and practice.

“Only 93 out of 187 countries have legislation, compulsory standards, or guidance on school food and beverages. However, only 29 % of these 93 countries had measures restricting food and beverage marketing in schools, and only 60 % have standards governing food and beverages,” the report states.

The research also finds that food and nutrition education often fails to get integrated meaningfully into the school curriculum.

In many low- and middle-income countries, these lessons are mainly delivered through one-off projects or extracurricular efforts rather than as a consistent part of formal education.

“In only three of 28 countries were assessments regularly conducted and used. The assessment information included changes in attitudes and perceptions about food and nutrition, knowledge, food practice, nutritional status, habits, and diets,” according to the GEM team.

School meal programs, the report notes, often aim to address not just nutrition but also education, health, and social protection goals.

Yet many of them fall short when it comes to tackling obesity or promoting healthy eating habits in the long run.

“Most school meal programs have education goals, alongside nutrition, health, and social protection objectives. However, fewer programs focus on preventing or mitigating obesity,” the report states.

One survey of school meal provision found that 72% of countries had some form of restriction on food marketing within school premises, while 52% had national-level bans on certain food items being sold in or near school zones.

Looking at wealthier nations, the report observes that many nutrition policies tend to rely heavily on public awareness campaigns rather than tougher, systemic interventions.

“A review of nutrition policy engagement with food system transformation in high-income countries highlighted that, while most policy actions focused on communication for healthy choice behavior change, most outcomes in the food environment domain focused on food labeling, product reformulation, providing healthy food in schools, and restricting food advertising,” the GEM Report notes.

“There was a lack of emphasis on reducing consumption of unhealthy food or drinks. There was an emphasis on individual responsibility instead of the food environment and on regulatory and legislative reforms,” the report adds.

The GEM team recommends a more holistic strategy to improve children's food environments, one that goes beyond just meals to include physical activity, extracurricular activities, and comprehensive nutrition education.

“There is a need to build capacity at all levels through education and training across a range of sectors, including health, nutrition, agriculture, and food systems. Despite clear interdependencies, the linkages between education and nutrition remain under-researched, including in data collection and monitoring of programs and outcomes,” the report concludes.