ArticleNutrients2022
The Impact of the Universal Infant Free School Meal Policy on Dietary Quality in English and Scottish Primary School Children: Evaluation of a Natural Experiment.
Article in Nutrients, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Interventions that address food insecurity for children aged 0-11 years, families, and pregnant women in the UK: a systematic review of intervention studies.Journal of nutritional science · 2026Pooled it
- Lunches in UK early years education and care settings: cross-sectional analysis of food processing, provision and intake.Research square · 2026Article
- Food Improvement Goals in Schools (FIGS I): a qualitative evaluation of a whole-school approach to healthy food provision in primary schools.BMC public health · 2026Article
- A comparative analysis of primary school meal nutrition across the low- and high-poverty boroughs of Inner London.BMC nutrition · 2026Article
- Effectiveness of an environmental nutrition and physical activity intervention in early childhood education and care settings (NAPSACC UK): a multicentre cluster randomised controlled trial.The Lancet regional health. Europe · 2026Article
- An evaluation of the effects of universal free school meals on secondary school-aged pupils' dietary intakes in England: a natural experiment.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Food policy, practice and provision in UK early childhood education and care: a scoping review.Public health nutrition · 2025Article
- Impacts of Global School Feeding Programmes on Children's Health and Wellbeing Outcomes: A Scoping Review.BMJ open · 2025Article
- School-Provided Meals and the Prevention of Childhood Obesity: A Small part of a Very Important Story.Current obesity reports · 2025Review
- Evaluating the impact of the universal infant free school meal policy on the ultra-processed food content of children's lunches in England and Scotland: a natural experiment.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2024Article
- Food insecurity in children and young people in Scotland.The Proceedings of the Nutrition Society · 2024Review
- School meals in the UK: ultra-processed, unequal and inadequate.Public health nutrition · 2023Article
- The Ultra-Processed Food Content of School Meals and Packed Lunches in the United Kingdom.Nutrients · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
Abstract
The Universal Infant Free School Meal (UIFSM) policy was introduced in September 2014 in England and January 2015 in Scotland and offered all infant schoolchildren (ages 4-7 years) a free school lunch, regardless of income. Yet, impacts of UIFSM on dietary intakes or social inequalities are not known. A difference-in-differences study using the National Diet and Nutrition Survey assessed pooled pre-UIFSM (2010-2014) and post-UIFSM (2014-2017) dietary data. English or Scottish infant schoolchildren (4-7 years; n = 458) were the intervention group, with junior schoolchildren (8-11 years; n = 401) as controls. We found that implementation of UIFSM led to an increase in infant schoolchildren having a school meal. Impacts on key food groups such as fruit and vegetables or sweetened beverages were not seen. However, there was evidence that the UIFSM policy lowered consumption of foods associated with packed lunches, such as crisps, and some nutrients, such as total fat and sodium. Policy impacts differed by income group, with larger effect sizes in low-income children. In conclusion, evaluation of UIFSM demonstrated some improvements in dietary quality but the findings suggest school meal quality needs to be improved to fully realise the benefits of UIFSM.
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