Avaliação da qualidade de cardápios escolares ofertados aos estudantes com necessidades alimentares especiais

Abstract

The National School Meal Plan (PNAE) aims to provide safe, balanced and nutritious food for all students enrolled in the public school network. Reaching this goal, however, often presents complications, especially when it comes to students with special dietary needs (ANAE), since those are people who need an even more specific diet. The present work aims to qualitatively evaluate 41 menus, offered in 9 different municipal schools in the state of RN, in order to verify if these diets reached the recommendations established by the PNAE. The evaluation was carried out using the Quality Index of the Coordination of Food and Nutritional Security (IQ COSAN) tool, developed by the National Education Development Fund (FNDE), which uses qualitative parameters to classify the evaluated menus as ''adequate'', ''needs improvement'' and '' inappropriate'', according to its score. There was a greater number of menus classified as ''needs improvement'', mainly due to the insufficient supply of foods like fresh fruits, milk and derivatives, vegetables and greens, beans and socio-biodiversity foods. There was also a considerable presence of ultra-processed foods, which is not recommended by the Program. Therefore, it is inferred that the menus evaluated in the study that were classified as ''needs improvement'' or ''inadequate'' should be reformulated, in order to guarantee food and nutritional security for the students with special dietary needs.