Carbon footprint of school lunch menus adhering to the Spanish dietary guidelines

Figures & data

Table 1. Recommended intake frequency of each type of food.

Food type	Weekly intake (times/week)
First course
Rice	1
Pasta	1
Legumes	1-2
Vegetables	1-2
Second course
Meat	1-3
Fish	1-3
Eggs	1-2
Side dish
Salads	3-4
Potatoes	1-2
Vegetables	1-2
Legumes	1-2
Dessert
Fruits	4-5
Other desserts	0-1

Table 2. Baseline school menu designed according to the Spanish school dietary guidelines.

Baseline menu 3 to 8 years old
Week 1
Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
646 kcal	684 kcal	692 kcal	603 kcal	689 kcal
Vegetable cream soup	Macaroni gratinated with cheese	Stewed fava beans	Ratatouille	Asian rice
Roast pork fillet	Battered hake fillet	Potato omelet	Roasted chicken leg	Tuna with tomato sauce
Roast potatoes	Salad	Green salad	Sauteed mushrooms	Baked vegetables with cheese
bread	bread	bread	bread	bread
fruit: orange	fruit: apple	fruit: pear	Canned peach in syrup	fruit: banana
Week 2
Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
566 kcal	732 kcal	521 kcal	655 kcal	610 kcal
Macaroni with tomato sauce	Zucchini and cheese cream soup	Baked potatoes with vegetables	Stewed lentils	Macaroni with vegetables
Omellete	Breaded escalope with cheese	Baked hake fillet	Beef burger	Battered calamari
Lettuce salad	Corn salad	Baked carrot	Pisto manchego	Lettuce salad
bread	bread	bread	bread	bread
fruit: apple	fruit: pear	Tiger nut milk	fruit: orange	fruit: banana
Week 3
Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
610 kcal	777 kcal	582 kcal	541 kcal	748 kcal
Vegetable cream soup	White beans with chorizo	Chicken soup	Asparagus cream	White beans with rice
Sausages	Potato omelet	Roasted chicken leg	Beef burger	Potato and zucchini omelet
Baked potatoes	Salad with olives	Baked vegetables	Roast potatoes	Carrot salad
bread	bread	bread	bread	bread
fruit: pear	fruit: orange	fruit: banana	fruit: pear	fruit: apple
Week 4
Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
541 kcal	561 kcal	674 kcal	670 kcal	605 kcal
Spaghetti bolognese	Stew	Potato salad	Vegetable cream	Noodle soup
Breaded hake with cheese	Stew soup	Chicken breast strips	Roast beef	Fried eggs
Roast potatoes	bread	Mixed salad	Mashed potatoes	Green salad
bread	fruit: banana	Bread	bread	bread
Yogurt		fruit: apple	fruit: pear	fruit: orange

Table 3. Description of the baseline menu and the six alternative menus.

Menu Type	Average energy intake	Average CO2 eq	Remarks
	(kcal/person/monthly lunch-meal)	(Kg CO2eq/person/monthly lunch-meal)
Baseline	2541	24.39	Generic menu.
A#1: w/o dairy or legumes	2524	22.26	Excludes dishes including dairy, i.e., milk-based, and legumes.
A#2: w/o fish	2543	23.41	All dishes including fish are substituted with other protein sources, e.g., meat and eggs.
A#3: hypocaloric	2379	20.72	The maximum calorie intake has been limited to approximately 600 kcal per day.
A#4: astringent	2210	14.77	Consists of food dishes specified by the Spanish school dietary guidelines to palliate the effects of intestinal illnesses.
A#5: w/o meat	2531	17.11	All dishes including meat, i.e., beef, poultry, and pork, are substituted with other protein sources, e.g., fish and eggs.
A#6: w/o egg	2540	22.33	All dishes including eggs are substituted with other protein sources, e.g., fish and meat.

Table 4. Daily carbon footprint and lunch carbon footprint of the Mediterranean diet and the school baseline menu and the alternative menus (shortened version of SM Table 13).

Diet/menu type	Daily carbon footprint	Lunch-meal carbon footprint	Reference
	kg CO2eq/person/day	kg CO2eq/person/ lunch-meal
Mediterranean diet	3.36	1.48	[47]
Mediterranean diet	2.86	1.26	[48]
Mediterranean diet	2.00	0.88	[49]
Mediterranean diet	3.40	1.50	[10]
Baseline	–	1.2
No milk, no legumes	–	1.1
No fish	–	1.2
Hypocaloric	–	1.0
No meat	–	0.9
No eggs	–	1.1
Astringent	–	0.7

Figure 1. Comparison of the Carbon footprint per month and per food stage of the school baseline menu and the six alternative menus.

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