Evaluering af den ernæringsmæssige kvalitet af madordninger i dagsinstitutioner.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate how many daycare centres with food schemes meet the recommendations given by the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration for the common lunch-time meal. The Danish Veterinary and Food Administration has laid down the following criterion for success for the nutritional quality of the food at daycare centres: “In 2010, 20% of daycare centres with a food scheme which functions as a replacement for the packed lunch must live up to recommendations from the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration.” The results of the report will be compared to this criterion for success.

A total of 36% of the daycare centres complied with the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration recommendations, whereas a further 45% achieved a high score, although without fully meeting the recommendations. Many daycare centres found it particularly difficult to fulfil the recommendations for “meat, cold meat and eggs” particularly with regard to quality, “fat” both with regard to frequency and quality, and “cheese” both with regard to frequency and quality. This means that children at many daycare centres are offered more saturated fat than recommended. The study shows that generally it is slightly more difficult for the daycare centres to fulfil the recommendation for quality, than it is to fulfil the recommendation for frequency. Therefore, the authors recommend focusing on using products with a high percentage of unsaturated fat rather than saturated fat, and on serving fish, vegetables, potatoes, wholemeal rice, pasta and bread more frequently. Moreover, the study shows that daycare centres with food schemes which have existed for a longer period, more often live up to the recommendations.

Data has been collected through questionnaires which established what had been served for lunch the week before. For some food groups questions were asked about the past two or four weeks. The questionnaire also covered relevant background variables about type of institution and lunch scheme. The questionnaire was sent to a representative cross section of 592 daycare centres in Denmark, and they were filled out correctly and returned by 376 daycare centres. On the basis of the questionnaires, a points system was developed, in which the daycare centres were given points according to how many of the recommendations from the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration had been fulfilled. In order for a food scheme to fulfil the recommendations, the authors defined that the daycare centre required at least 80% of the points possible. The material was subsequently analysed in the statistics program SAS.

Nielsen, M.H., Lassen, A.D., Christensen, L.M. & Sabinsky, M. (2011). ”Evaluering af den ernæringsmæssige kvalitet af madordninger i dagsinstitutioner”. Søborg: Fødevareinstituttet, Danmarks Tekniske Universitet.