Gluten-free diet - reality in school facilities

The topic of this bachelor thesis is gluten-free diet - reality in schools facilities. The goal of this work was to determine the number of school cafeterias in the Vysocina Region which provide gluten-free meals, to evaluate awareness of the canteen staff about preparation of the gluten-free diet and to describe the cooperation between the school cafeteria and family of the pupil with gluten-free diet. School meals are important to provide optimal intake of nutrition during the time the child spends in school, to establish proper eating habits and to better integrate the child into the group of its peers. Gluten-free diet is a necessary medical precaution especially for those with coeliac disease, in which case gluten can lead to villous atrophy, and for those with gluten allergy for whom gluten intake can cause anaphylactic shock. Adherence to the gluten-free diet is recommended also to those with non-coeliac gluten sensitivity diagnosis, although gluten causes only short-term complications, usually intestinal. The method of quantitative and qualitative research was used to make this thesis. The research sample consisted of 8 school cafeterias from the Vysocina Region which provide gluten-free meal to their pupils. Awareness about gluten-free diet principles of the managers of the cafeterias or of the cooks responsible for preparation of gluten-free meal was determined by means of semi-structured interviews. The calculation of the two-day menu of each cafeteria by means of the Nutriservis Profesional program was also part of this thesis. The results were compared with the recommended daily intake of energy, proteins, fat, and saccharides for pupils of elementary and secondary schools. The results of the quantitative research show that gluten-free diet is provided by only a small percentage of school cafeterias in the Vysocina Region. The qualitative research prove sufficient awareness of the cooks about gluten-free diet, with awareness of those cooks directly responsible for preparation of gluten free meals being at much higher level. It was also determined that the cooperation with parents of pupils with gluten-free diet is a usually one time occasion limited to an arrangement of nonperishable gluten free meal packages