School Food Programs (SFPs) in Canada provide an example of how a country without a national school food policy/strategy and program endeavours to nourish students. Globally, Canada ranks 30th out of 38 of the wealthiest nations on child well-being for providing children with access to nutritious food (UNICEF, 2020). Nationally, the diet quality of students across the socio-economic spectrum is poor, with only a small proportion meeting the recommendations of Canada’s Food Guide (Black Everitt et al., 2020; Minaker Tugault-Lafleur et al., 2017; Tugault-Lafleur et al., 2018; Slater et al., 2022).Canada is the only G7 country (Bas, 2019) and one of the only industrialized member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) (Koc Haines Ruetz & McKenna, 2021).Without a federal school food program for Canada, a grassroots movement of SFPs has developed innovative programs to fill a significant gap. While the majority of students bring a packed lunch, free breakfast and snack programs, and lunch programs have expanded in recent years. This is encouraging, as home-packed school lunches have been found to be low in nutritional quality compared to school-provided meals (Everitt et al., 2020). In 2018/19, at least 1 million, or ⅕, of students participated in a SFP in Canada (an underestimation due to no or limited data in some jurisdictions), but participation rates within provinces and territories varied widely, resulting in inequitable access (Ruetz & McKenna, 2021). The Canadian case is a testament to the leadership and perseverance of (mainly) women, past and present, who recognize the many benefits of universal access to healthy school food and have volunteered countless hours to prepare school meals for students.
Ruetz et al. (Fri,) studied this question.