THE POLITICS OF THE PLATE: SCHOOL MEALS AS AN AGENT OF FOOD AND NUTRITIONAL SECURITY FOR REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

This article discusses the National School Feeding Program (PNAE) and Food and Nutrition Security (FNS) aimed at public education students. It aims to address the rights and guarantees of the public policy of school meals as a correlative factor between education and regional development.  The problem questions the legal and practical applicability of an effective relationship between school feeding, permanence and learning where the quality of food within the school environment is, in fact, a national policy of the students' right, as well as pointing out possible improvements in relation to the feeding program. Methodologically, a qualitative bibliographic research was carried out to apprehend both the phenomenon and the theoretical discussion of the theme. Thus, it was highlighted that the "plate policy" of school meals not only promotes education, health and protection of the social layer that is assisted by the public school, but also plays a fundamental role in the formation of values and habits of life, among them, that of school food and nutrition, based on food practices that respect cultural diversity,  environmental and socially sustainable development of Brazilian regional development.