Currently, the food served in kindergartens and schools is based on requirements established in 2008. However, food choices and children's health have changed over time, prompting the Ministry of Social Affairs to draft a new regulation that will update those standards.

The goal of the regulation is to promote healthier food choices for children, and according to Ingrid Põldsaar, an adviser at the ministry's public health department, children will soon be able to eat in a more varied and balanced way.

"There will be a greater emphasis on plant-based foods, vegetables and fruits," she explained. "At the same time, we're reducing regulation and simplifying requirements for food service providers, making it easier for them to prepare meals for children."

Põldsaar added that whereas cooks at children's institutions previously had to follow requirements for micronutrients and minerals, in the future they will instead focus on food groups such as vegetables, fruits or dairy products — making meal planning easier.

"When cooking with broccoli, for example, the cook won't have to think about how much vitamin C it contains. Going forward, they'll know that by offering a certain amount of broccoli and other vegetables, children will get what they need," she said.

Taavi Tillmann, associate professor of public health at the University of Tartu, noted that unhealthy food causes more health problems in Estonia than alcohol and tobacco combined. People eat too much processed meat and salty snacks like chips, and far too little vegetables, fruits, legumes and fish.

"We need to significantly increase our consumption of plant-based foods. That doesn't mean we need to switch to vegetarian or vegan diets — meat can still be part of meals, just in smaller quantities than we're used to," Tillmann said. "More importantly, we need to eat more fish and whole grain products." 

Sugar quantities start growing in elementary school

According to Tillmann, dairy products are also being consumed in excessive amounts and that intake needs to be reduced to make room in children's diets for more plant-based foods. The consumption of sugar and sweet snacks tends to spike when children start primary school.

"For some reason, when kids transition from kindergarten to primary school, they start eating a lot more sugar and both sweet and salty snacks," Tillmann said, noting that studies conducted in Norway and the UK have shown that offering children free fruit in schools helped reduce their weight.

He also pointed out a broader issue: inequality in Estonia is increasing. While health trends remain stable among university-educated people, residents of Harju County and ethnic Estonians, rates of overweight and obesity are rising rapidly among people living outside Harju County, non-Estonians and those without higher education. One way to address this, according to Tillmann, is to improve the food environment through schools.

"Improving school food through regulation could reduce childhood obesity by 15 percent," Tillmann said. "These kinds of interventions are especially effective for children from poorer families, helping to reduce inequality."

Ingrid Põldsaar emphasized that in addition to diversifying meals, reducing sugar and salt and eliminating micronutrient-based requirements, it's important to offer variety within each food group — serving just one type of vegetable isn't enough to meet a child's nutritional needs.

"We'll continue the current approach of not offering foods cooked in large amounts of fat, such as French fries. Sweeteners will also not be used for children — these are substances added to replace sugar in sweetening food. Why is that important? Because if we want children to get used to the natural taste of food instead of overly sweetened flavors, we shouldn't be offering sweeteners," the Ministry of Social Affairs adviser explained.

She also noted that prepared foods must meet certain standards. For example, fish sticks must contain an adequate amount of actual fish.

Changing environments more effective than campaigns

Family physician Marta Velgan noted that in her experience, childhood overweight is becoming an increasingly serious issue, with more and more children in kindergarten — let alone those in early primary school — struggling with excess weight. Prevention, she emphasized, is always much easier than addressing problems after they've developed.

"Regulations that focus more on changing the environment and providing support are far more effective than campaigns that simply encourage people to eat healthier. We should be implementing interventions that are actually more effective," Velgan said. "I believe that reassessing school meals and introducing regulations to make them healthier is absolutely the right step toward a healthier life and gives children a better start on their life path."

The Public Health Act set to take effect on September 1 will also cover the food offered in school snack bars and vending machines. Under the new rules, school principals will have a greater role in determining what items are appropriate for sale in these settings. According to Taavi Tillmann, the timing is ideal: when both school lunches and the offerings in snack bars improve simultaneously, the overall environment in which students make food choices becomes much healthier.

The Ministry of Social Affairs is sending the new regulation on food services in children's institutions out for review, during which stakeholders can provide feedback and suggestions. The final text of the regulation will be shaped based on those inputs.

The regulation is planned to take effect on September 1, though some provisions will include a one-year transition period.

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