“The school, the nursery, the educational services are a second home for children because it is here that they live most of their day until the afternoon. And in this second home they eat, grow, learn, acquire skills, knowledge and competences. However, school catering is still a ‘Cinderella’ today because it is a service offered in almost all cases under contract by Municipalities and local authorities in the context of school services”. This was said by Ersilia Troiano, president of the Scientific Association of Food, Nutrition and Dietetics (Asand), speaking this morning at the press conference ‘From good regional practices to national guidelines on the nutrition of children in nursery schools’, promoted at Palazzo Madama by the deputy president of the Senate, Gian Marco Centinaio. Starting from the virtuous path started by the Lombardy Region, the leading experts in paediatrics and nutrition discussed with institutions, scientific societies, experts and companies on the best feeding model for children aged 0 to 3 years, with the aim of developing as soon as possible National guidelines in the name of ‘Made in Italy’.
“School catering was born between the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century as a tool to guarantee children at least one safe meal a day – recalls Troiano – Today, however, its connotation is strongly oriented towards education, knowledge and the acquisition of tastes and flavors and gastronomic traditions”.
At a local level, “many Regions have drawn up theoretical-scientific documents for the development of dietary tables and differentiated menus – underlines Troiano – Undoubtedly these documents have the advantage of aiming to direct local administrations and contracting bodies in the right direction. Among the moreover, the comparison with international realities promotes Italian catering services which are of the highest quality, starting from foodstuffs. However, we must make an extra effort to ensure that nutrition is at the center of the nursery’s educational project”. Finally, “despite the fact that catering was born as an instrument of social protection”, today according to “Save the Children reports in our rich and industrialized societies a portion of the pediatric population accesses the canteen for the only balanced meal of the day, and this is an aspect we need to reflect on”, he concludes.
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