Top food categories contributing to Canadian children's energy and nutrient intakes at school

Understanding the foods and beverages that children consume at school can help inform the development of school food programs, which has become a priority in Canada following the announcement of federal funding commitments and release of Canada's first National School Food Policy in 2024. Therefore, the objective was to identify top sources of energy, nutrients to limit (sodium, sugars, and saturated fat), and nutrients to encourage (potassium, calcium, fibre, iron, and vitamin A) consumed by Canadian children at school.

Intake data from the first day 24-hour recall of the 2015 Canadian Community Health Survey - Nutrition was examined for children 4-18 y (n = 1,690) who consumed food at school. Foods and beverages were grouped into 28 categories (e.g., baked goods, fruit and vegetable juice and drinks etc.). Top categories were identified by frequency of consumption and percent contribution to total population-level intakes.

Top sources of nutrients to limit often overlapped with top sources of nutrients to encourage. Handheld entrées was the top source of energy, sodium, saturated fat, calcium, and iron intakes at school. Fruits was the top source of sugars, potassium, and fibre and vegetables was the top source of vitamin A. By age group and sex, top sources were mostly similar with some differences in rankings and percent contributions.

Results identified the top sources of energy, nutrients to limit, and nutrients to encourage consumed by Canadian children at school. Knowledge of these sources can inform the development of school food programs that aim to improve the diet quality of Canadian children at school.