Free breakfast in primary schools: feasibility of a municipal offer in Germany

The aim of this survey was to assess the feasibility and acceptance of a free breakfast offer (model project “School Breakfast”) at interested primary schools in the city of Bonn, Germany, with a focus on the food offer and framework conditions.

In 2019, all 54 primary schools were invited to participate in the new offer. To evaluate the project, a semi-structured questionnaire was used for data collection in an interview with the person responsible for the breakfast in each of the participating schools. For the nutritional assessment of the food offer, the schools' self-selected food choices were compared with the breakfast recommendations of the Optimized Mixed Diet (OMD) for children and adolescents in Germany.

Fourteen of the 54 schools (26%) participated in the project. The motivation for participation was most often the observation that children brought breakfast of poor quality. Breakfast was offered on almost all school days, and children could decide whether they wanted to take advantage of the food offer. Of the four components of breakfast required in the OMD, 100% of schools regularly offered vegetables and fruits, 79% offered cereal products and milk products, and 36% a beverage. Acceptance by the pupils was evaluated positively by the schools.

The municipal school breakfast project seems suitable for providing children with low-threshold access to a healthy breakfast, as the project schools generally selected foods in line with the OMD and were therefore able to tackle the problem of inadequate breakfast provision at home.