School meals should be reformed: More fruit, vegetables and less meat

The fact that future Agriculture Minister Alois Rainer (CSU) wants to advocate for balanced nutrition in daycare centers and schools is commendable. However, only if he means clearly orienting menus toward cleverly conceived vegetarian food. And not, as the trained master butcher suggests, regularly serving meat—which, incidentally, is the norm in most cafeterias across the country.

If a child eats lunch five times a week at daycare or school, this significantly influences how they eat later as adults. This presents an opportunity. Young people can now internalize in their everyday interactions what older generations have largely forgotten: that a complete meal doesn't require schnitzel and sausage on their plate every day. That this diet is neither particularly healthy nor climate- and environmentally friendly, nor animal-friendly.

The problem lies elsewhere, as studies show. Most children eat too few fruits and vegetables, and too many animal products. This doesn't mean that daycare centers and schools should necessarily stop offering meat altogether. Meat can certainly be one of the main sources of proteins important to the body. However, the amount is crucial: meat should be offered no more than once a week – 30 grams for one- to four-year-olds, 35 grams for four- to seven-year-olds, and 40 grams for older children. This is the recommendation of the German Nutrition Society (DGE).

It's also possible to do without it altogether: Meat-free dishes enrich the menu. Here, too, it's important to create a balanced diet to ensure adequate nutrient intake – with vegetables, salad, and legumes. In other words, a veggie menu that's simply thrown together from side dishes from the original meat menu isn't enough. The new Minister of Agriculture could certainly advocate for uniform national standards.