Goldsmith Peter, Andrade Juan, Cornelius Margaret, Asigbee Mawuli, Atim Philip, Tamimie Courtney
1 Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL, USA.
2 USAID Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Soybean Value Chain Research, Urbana, IL, USA.
Food Nutr Bull. 2019 Mar;40(1):41-55. doi: 10.1177/0379572119825960. Epub 2019 Feb 8.
Numerous governments in developing countries institute school lunch programs or school feeding programs as a strategy to address high malnutrition and low education rates among children. In 2005, the Ghanaian government launched the Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP). The GSFP policy does not document (1) the actual meal and associated nutrient profile received by the student, (2) the cost of the meal ingredients to the caterer who prepares the food, nor (3) the recipe derivations that may supply an enhanced nutritional profile. We address these 3 information gaps by employing a detailed case study of 4 caterers supplying a traditional tomato stew recipe in northern Ghana within GSFP-supported school lunch programs. Specifically, we explore the following propositions: (1) GSFP caterers can deliver a school lunch for under 100 pesewas (1 GH¢ or $0.21 USD) per student; (2) the meal meets the recommended daily allowance for protein; (3) soy can serve as a cost-effective ingredient to fortify the meal in terms of protein level and protein quality; and (4) significant differences exist in the macro- and micronutrient profile due to caterer discretion. We answer the above 4 propositions, and by doing so show the importance of accurately measuring the nutritional content, costs, and quantities of the actual school lunch under study. Second, among our results, we show the economy of locally produced soy flour as an ingredient that can lower costs and raise nutrition when substituting for other locally produced proteins such as ground beef and mackerel.
许多发展中国家的政府设立了学校午餐计划或学校供餐计划，作为解决儿童营养不良率高和教育水平低问题的一项战略。2005年，加纳政府启动了加纳学校供餐计划（GSFP）。GSFP政策没有记录（1）学生实际收到的餐食及其相关营养成分，（2）为准备食物的餐饮服务商提供餐食食材的成本，也没有记录（3）可能提供更高营养成分的食谱来源。我们通过对在GSFP支持的学校午餐计划中为加纳北部提供传统番茄酱食谱的4家餐饮服务商进行详细的案例研究，来填补这三个信息空白。具体而言，我们探讨以下命题：（1）GSFP餐饮服务商可以为每个学生提供成本低于100比塞瓦（1加纳塞地或0.21美元）的学校午餐；（2）该餐食符合蛋白质的每日推荐摄入量；（3）就蛋白质水平和蛋白质质量而言，大豆可以作为一种经济高效的食材来强化餐食；（4）由于餐饮服务商的自主决定权，宏量营养素和微量营养素成分存在显著差异。我们回答了上述四个命题，从而表明准确测量所研究的实际学校午餐的营养成分、成本和数量的重要性。其次，在我们的研究结果中，我们表明，当地生产的大豆粉作为一种食材，在替代其他当地生产的蛋白质（如碎牛肉和鲭鱼）时，可以降低成本并提高营养水平。
