Seven hundred and seven secondary state schools were questioned (570聽were administrated by the Ministry of Education and 137聽by the Ministry of Agriculture) on their catering practices. Twenty consecutive menus from each school were also analyzed with a specific coding system to establish its nutritional composition for comparison with the 2007聽recommendations.
On average, schools complied with half of the recommendations. Good compliance was observed with the 2007聽recommendations concerning fried products, starchy foods, fruits, and dairy products whereas very few schools were in compliance with recommendations concerning fish, cheeses and sweetened desserts containing less than 15聽%fat and more than 20聽g of sugar per portion. Furthermore, compliance with recommendations was significantly better for lunch meals, and even better for agricultural establishments. A 5-component meal was also associated with greater compliance with the recommendations. In addition, four school patterns were identified based on catering management practices. The first two categories of establishments had knowledge of the recommendations but exhibited different levels of application. The last two types of establishments had no knowledge of the recommendations and differed in their catering management practices.
Compliance with recommendations was contrasted, with high adequacy for some guidelines and low for others. Nevertheless, application of the current guidelines and real implication of the school in a dietary project did improve the dietary offer in such schools.