
Tackling the Problem of Law-Quality School Lunches: Survey Report and Policy Advocacy
The new academic year has started, and students are back to school again. In addition to education, parents entrust their children’s most important meal to school. The prevalence rate of school lunches in Taiwanese junior high and elementary schools has reached 99%. However, do you know what kinds of meals are provided at school? Are school lunches really nutritious to students?
Child Welfare League Foundation (CWLF) released the “2023 Survey Report on School Lunches in Taiwan”, indicating that school lunches were neither nutritious nor delicious.
Eighty percent of students did not eat enough, yet there was a lot of food waste.
The survey result showed that 80.6% of the junior high school students had experiences with not eating enough food for school lunches, and that 47.2% reported eating less during school lunches compared to their regular meals. Did they eat less due to insufficient supply of school lunches? It did not seem to be the case. According to junior high school students’ observation of the amount of food waste in their classes, only less than 30% of the dishes were completely consumed. Most leftovers were vegetables, with a quarter to over half of the serving remained uneaten, as reported by 65% of the respondents. Main staple foods like rice and noodles were also common leftovers, with a quarter to one-third of the serving remained uneaten, as reported by 56.0% of the respondents. What were the reasons students would rather go hungry than eat school lunches? 74.8% of students indicated that there were dishes they disliked, and 60.1% of students said they disliked certain tastes. Students also believed that the food texture was bad (41.7%), and that the dishes were too repetitive (40.6%) and too greasy (39.2%). As a result, the school lunches, funded by parents and taxpayers' hard-earned money, ended up being wasted and thrown away.

There has been a lack of proper oversight of school lunches.
This survey sampled 5 elementary schools and 2 junior high schools in each of the 22 cities and counties, recording the contents of the school lunches registered on the Ministry of Education's "Campus Food Ingredients Registration Platform" from June 12 to June 16, 2023. The results revealed that among the 154 schools, 22.1% of them provided fried food more than twice a week, with 9 schools offering fried food three times a week. Furthermore, 39.6% of the schools provided meatballs, sausages, reconstituted chicken nuggets, and other processed products more than twice a week. This may potentially violate the "School Lunch Food Content and Nutritional Standards" set by the Health Promotion Administration, not to mention the large amount of dishes with high sugar, high oil, and high starch content, which are considered unfavorable for nutritional quality. These unhealthy dishes have a strong appeal to children and are likely to crowd out opportunities to choose healthy food.
According to the Taiwan Dietitian Association’s statement in May 2023, there are approximately only 630 registered dietitians assisting with school lunch-related matters across the entire country. This amounts to less than 19% of schools having a registered dietitian. Most schools rely on staff members without nutrition background, such as school nurses or even teachers, to serve as school lunch coordinators. The lack of oversight by dietitians is a contributing factor to the nutritional shortcomings in school lunches.
The Director of CWLF’s Organizational Development Department, Yun-Hsuan Huang, explained the reason for holding this press conference: For elementary and junior high school students who may not have a hearty breakfast due to lack of sleep and are too busy with evening cram school to have a proper dinner, school lunch should be nutritious and in stable supply. It should be a crucial meal that supports students’ growth, development, and educational needs. Therefore, CWLF conducted a comprehensive evaluation of school lunches in elementary and junior high schools by gathering data from the Campus Food Ingredients Registration Platform and asking students to help record the actual amount of food waste. CWLF also conducted a survey with parents and junior high school students to gain insights into the students’ experiences and parents’ expectations regarding school lunches. Through these efforts, CWLF aimed to gain a better understanding of the various issues currently facing school lunches, and to urge relevant agencies to solve these issues, providing children with nutritious and delicious lunches.

Children are not only “consumers” of school lunches but also “learners.”
Also present in the press conference was the Douceur Network, which has long been engaged in school lunch issues, food and agriculture education, and international activities. According to the secretary general of the Douceur Network, Chia-Ling Huang, compared to Japan, which established a dedicated law for school lunches in 1954, and South Korea in 1981, Taiwan has been running behind in the implementation of specific regulations to safeguard the health and safety of children's school lunches. In comparison to children in Japan and South Korea, Taiwanese children are facing issues such as higher rates of obesity, shorter stature, more dental cavities, and poorer eyesight. While it is hard to determine whether there is a direct causal relationship, it is crucial for the government to address these concerns. In addition, it is found that the ratio of public dietitians overseeing school lunches on campuses in Taiwan is significantly lower compared to that in Japan and South Korea. There are only roughly 600 public dietitians in Taiwan. This indicates that our investment in children’s nutrition, health, and nutrition education. Children are not only “consumers” of school lunches but also “learners.” School lunches should not only be an issue during elections but require concerted efforts from both the central and local authorities. Through clear management systems, we should monitor school lunches and safeguard the health of our children.

Po and Terry, who are junior and senior high school students, respectively, came to the press conference to share their personal experiences with school lunches. “School lunches often contain repetitive dishes and even smell rancid; therefore, many people have a poor appetite for school lunches. It feels wasteful to see a lot of leftovers being discarded every day,” said Po. As a vegan, Terry felt that school lunches were quite unfriendly for vegans. He had a particularly bad experience where the main course of a meal consisted of just a few strands of bamboo shoots. He initiated a petition on CWLF’s 1420Hz Child Participation Platform, calling on children and adolescents to pay attention to the issues of school lunches and food waste.

Structural problems with the production and delivery of school lunches
Why are the well-intentioned school lunches so unpopular among students? Why do many people have doubts about the nutritional value of school lunches? Upon further investigation into the production and delivery system of school lunches, we discovered long-standing structural problems that need to be acknowledged and addressed by relevant government authorities.
1. The cost of school lunches is non-transparent and inconsistent
It is surprising that there is currently no specific law for such important school lunches. Across 22 different counties and cities in Taiwan, there are 22 different approaches. The costs of school lunches can vary greatly across schools. Moreover, school lunch fees include costs of personnel and utilities, and the actual budget for ingredients can be quite limited. It is no wonder that cheap processed foods are often used. Also, there is no publicly available information from each school regarding how much is spent on ingredients, making it difficult to monitor the quality of the meals.
2. Long-distance delivery of school lunches reduces the freshness
While some schools have their own in-house kitchens, others reply on delivery from other schools or catering companies. Due to the large amount of food (hundreds or even thousands of servings) and the time for delivery, the meals have to be prepared well in advance at 10 a.m. or even earlier, and then stored in oil or water at temperatures above 70 Celsius degrees. When children have their lunch at 12 o’clock, they are actually consuming food that has been kept at a high temperature for over 2 hours. It is no wonder that many children consider school lunches unappetizing.
3. The lack of parent participation makes it difficult to monitor the quality of school lunches
The survey also investigated the expectations of parents of elementary school students about school lunches. The results showed that parents’ top priority was a nutritious and balanced diet (86.9%), followed by hygienic cooking/food safety assurance (74.0%). Additionally, parents expected the lunches to be freshly prepared (43.0%), with quality certification/product liability insurance (42.9%), and delicious (42.5%). However, when asked if they knew what their children ate for school lunches, 25.6% of parents had no idea, and 42.1% only knew about the menu. Of particular concern is that 7.9% of parents reported that their children had experiences with foreign objects in school lunches and food poisoning. Yet, 51.4% of parents did not know how they could report problems with school lunches. This indicates that parents may difficulty monitoring the school lunches their children consume.
CWLF’s appeals about school lunches
The status quo of school lunches is not an overnight occurrence. This complex, systematic issue urgently requires the central government to address the inconsistency in school lunch affairs among various local governments. Although the K-12 Education Administration, under the Ministry of Education, has established a School Lunch Department, there is still insufficient legal authority and responsibilities for effective oversight. Therefore, CWLF urges the government to:
1. Establish a specific law for school lunches
There is currently a lack of a specific law to regulate school lunches nationwide, resulting in varies approaches based on each local government’s financial situation or other local factors. Whenever food safety crises occur, local governments often adopt passive approaches by resorting to heavy penalties without proactive measures for prevention and supervision. In contrast, neighboring countries such as South Korea and Japan have already established regulations, including the “School Meal Law,” to regulate school lunch systems decades ago. Taiwan should also enact relevant regulations to ensure the nutrition and health of students.
CWLF has currently initiated a petition to establish a specific law for school lunches on the Public Policy Participation Platform. We calling for parents and the general public to pay attention to school lunch issues and sign the petition.
2. Promote fee transparency and enhance the quality of school lunches
There is currently no transparent system for the costs of school lunches, and it is unclear how the costs are distributed among ingredients, personnel, and equipment. Different counties and cities have different regulations, subsidies, and ways of supply for school lunches. Parents are unable to know how the school lunch fees they pay are used and whether the fees could reflect the quality.
We urge the government to promote fee transparency and enhance the quality of school lunches. In addition, we urge parents to pay more attention to what children eat at school and to play a role in monitoring school lunches, making the government more actively improve school lunches.
