Study of compliance of law on healthy and balanced diets by schools in a district of New Delhi, India

Consumption of unhealthy diet, a nutritionally depleted calorie dense diet is one of the major factors in aetiology of lifestyle diseases coupled with other lifestyle factors like sedentary lifestyle and stress. All these factors are modifiable and adversely impact both physical and mental health. In 2020, the Indian food regulatory organisation passed a regulation assuring school children are provided food that meets the standards of safety and a balanced diet. The regulation provides that foods with high trans/saturated fat and with added sodium and sugar do not form part of the diet of school children. To understand compliance with this regulation, information through the Right to Information Act, 2005, from 49 public-run schools in a district of India’s capital New Delhi was collected and reported. The implementation and compliance status in these schools has been dismal with 24% being, for example, the maximum compliance for a single factor related to implementation of ‘Eat Right Campus’ campaign and similar or lower levels of compliance for other factors related to advertisement of unhealthy foods. The creation of laws regarding regulation of schools must be followed by thorough implementation and stricter enforcement for well-being of children and for preventing early onset of diseases.