The Department of Nutrition and Food Safety (NFS) is launching a new WHO guideline on policies and interventions to create healthy school food environments on 27 January 2026, at 13:00-14:00 CET.
This WHO guideline offers Member States evidence-based recommendations and implementation considerations on policies and interventions to improve school food environments. It covers three key areas:
- food provision in schools;
- nutrition standards or rules for foods and beverages served or sold at school; and
- nudging interventions that modify the school food environment to promote healthier choices.
The recommendations aim to increase the availability, purchase and consumption of foods and beverages that contribute to a healthy diet, while reducing the presence and consumption of those that do not. The guideline emphasizes that foods and beverages provided, served, sold or consumed at schools should be safe and support healthy diets, in line with children’s rights and national public health goals.
Children spend a large share of their day in school, making it a critical setting for shaping lifelong dietary habits and reducing health and nutrition inequities. Creating healthier school food environments should be a part of broader efforts to improve population diets through food system transformation and the creation of healthy food environments for all, including through marketing restrictions, fiscal policies to promote healthy diets and nutrition labelling policies.
Join the webinar to learn about the WHO recommendations and hear first-hand about the experiences of countries implementing policies to create healthier school food environments.