Nutrition Quality and Safety of Ready-to-Eat Foods in a Sample of Cycle One Public Schools in Muscat Governorate

Healthy foods positively impact children?s health. Schools can influence the dietary habits of children through feeding. Foods in schools could be evaluated for nutrition quality using the traffic light system and the concept of nutrient density of the USDA strategy for Smart Snacks in School. As students spend about half of their day time in schools, it is critical that feeding through education is given a great attention to overcome malnutrition in school children. Thus, foods are provided in a very logistical manner to accommodate a significant number of students within a short recess time. As a solution, schools feed children using Ready-to-Eat (RTE) foods. Foods types, hygiene preparation condition, handling and storing of food prior to serving concern authorities around the global as many served food are high-risk foods, potential vehicles for many food poisoning pathogens. The school food environment in Oman has not been evaluated to understand the nutritional quality of those foods. Further, the environment also has not been evaluated in relation to hygiene. Thus, the aim of this study is to evaluate the nutrition quality and safety of foods in a sample of cycle one (grade 1-4) public schools in Muscat.