School meals make an important contribution to the nutritional intake of children, with an established link between poor diet and childhood growth and general health in later life. Over several decades, various nutritional standards have been introduced defining nutritional requirements of school meals, including the Caroline Walker Trust (CWT) guidelines published by the UK government.

The CWT guidelines include figures for the recommended nutrient content of an average school meal provided for children over a 1-week period. However, these guidelines only recommend levels for a selection of nutrients but do not include other important nutrients such as sodium, essential fatty acids, zinc and B vitamins. The lack or excess of these micronutrients has been found to be important in children's diets.

The school environment, attitudes of staff and pupils, and information learnt in the classroom all have a major influence on children's knowledge and understanding of health. In addition, there is a significant proportion of children for whom the school meal remains the main source of food each day. As a result of this, in April 2004 Hull City Council introduced free healthy school meals for primary and special school pupils in an attempt to reduce health inequalities. These meals aimed at meeting CWT nutritional guidelines for primary schools.

A study by Gatenby¹ assessed the nutritional content of the school meals provided by Hull City Council in a primary school in Hull, including actual intake. The nutritional content of the meals was compared with the CWT guidelines and with standard school meals served by a primary school in East Riding of Yorkshire. Both schools exceed CWT guidelines but there were statistically significant differences between intakes of energy, iron, zinc, folate and magnesium, with Hull children consuming less than those in the neighbouring school. On average, children were served and consumed inadequate levels of 11 of the 17 nutrients assessed.
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¹ Gatenby, LA (2007). Nutritional content of school meals in Hull and the East Riding of Yorkshire: a comparison of two schools. Journal of Human Nutrition and Diet 20 (6) 538-548.

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