ADEQUACY AND IMPORTANCE OF SCHOOL FOOD DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC: A BIBLIOGRAPHIC REVIEW

Abstract

The National School Feeding Program (PNAE) is considered the largest and oldest food and nutrition program in Latin America, managed by the National Education Development Fund (FNDE), with the aim of meeting nutritional needs, offering at least one healthy meal. and balanced, during the period of permanence in public schools. The program contributes to learning and promotes healthy eating habits. However, in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic scenario, with face-to-face classes suspended, this benefit was severely impacted. The objective of this research was to point out strategies used to guarantee the food security for students in the face of social isolation and to emphasize the importance of school meals. Soon after the beginning of the pandemic, public management, concerned and attentive to the food need, determined that children and adolescents enrolled in public schools and colleges should receive foodstuffs in the form of kits, being defined by the nutrition team, municipal and state manager, based on consumption in their respective study sites. The kits gave preference to in natura and minimally processed foods, respecting seasonality, food culture, nutritional and sanitary quality. It was concluded that the school food kits delivered were necessary and important to continue ensuring access to quality food, and that measures like these promote the Human Right to Adequate Food and food security in crisis situations.