Peer-reviewed article
Assessment of food quality and safety among Nigerian school children
Jeminat Omotade Sodimu, Ngozi Okafor ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This systematic review examined food quality and safety among Nigerian school children by analyzing 36 published studies from 2018 to 2022. The review found that foods served in schools are often of low quality and unsafe, which negatively affects children's physical growth, health, and academic performance. The authors conclude that training and monitoring food handlers on food safety practices is essential in Nigerian schools.
Key points
- Foods served or sold to children in schools in Nigeria are sometimes of low quality and unsafe
- Poor food quality and safety have grave consequences for children's physical growth, health status, and academic development
- Providing high-quality and safe foods to children is key to achieving sustainable development goals by 2030
- There is a need to train and monitor food handlers on food quality and safety in Nigerian schools
- Review analyzed 36 relevant articles from 2018 to 2022 on food quality and safety
Limitations
This is a literature review that synthesizes existing studies rather than conducting primary data collection, so it cannot provide direct empirical evidence about current conditions or specific prevalence rates. The review does not evaluate the effectiveness of any particular intervention to improve food safety in schools.
Abstract
Abstract Nutrition is of vital importance in the physical, emotional, and intellectual development of children, for retarded academic performance is not the only risk of lack of good food; various health risks that may deform the body system or result in sickness or death are also, not unconnected to consumption of foods devoid of quality and safety. This article aims to assess the food quality and safety among Nigerian school children. A review of related online free-full articles written in the English language published from 2018 to 2022 was done. A consequent title and abstract review of articles published on food quality and safety, and over 1056 published studies identified, they were visualized, profiled, cleansed, prepared, analyzed, and summarized, of which 36 most relevant articles met the inclusion criteria and were utilized for the review. This study found that providing high-quality and safe foods to children is key to achieving sustainable development goals by 2030, and it is in this quest that tremendous educational and health benefits. We also found that the foods served or sold to children in schools are sometimes of low quality and unsafe to satisfy learners’ esthetic or nutritional needs, which have grave consequences for their physical growth, health status, and academic development. In conclusion, there is a need to train and monitor food handlers on food quality and safety in schools in Nigeria.